Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Aug 11.
Published in final edited form as: J Clin Epidemiol. 2018 Jun 30;102:99–106. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.06.007

Table 4.

Multiple choice questions assessing understanding of instrument measurement properties and core outcome sets for research

Questions with correct responses bolded All Panel Members (n=70) Clinical Researchers (n=32) Clinicians/Professional Assoc. (n=19) US Federal Research Funding Organizations (n=4) Patients and Caregivers (n=15)
“A study reported “Poor” reliability (reliability is the degree to which a measure produces comparable and consistent results) of a muscle strength measure, but the study had an “Excellent” COSMIN rating (COSMIN is used to rate a study’s evaluation of the measurement properties of the instrument. COSMIN does NOT rate the instrument itself, but helps readers understand if they can have confidence in the results of studies evaluating measurement properties of surveys and tests.) Please select the statement that is TRUE.”
 The measure has poor reliability and the study had poor methods in evaluating and reporting the reliability of the measure 5 (7) 2 (6) 1 (5) 0 (0) 2 (13)
 The measure has poor reliability, but the study had excellent methods in evaluating and reporting the reliability of the measure 59 (84) 27 (84) 17 (89) 4 (100) 11 (73)
 The measure has excellent reliability and the study had excellent methods in evaluating and reporting the reliability of the measure 3 (4) 1 (3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 2 (13)
 The measure has excellent reliability, but the study had poor methods in evaluating and reporting the reliability of the measure 3 (4) 2 (6) 1 (5) 0 (0) 0 (0)
“A hypothetical Core Outcome Set has 7 Core Domains, with 1 measurement tool recommended for each Domain. For researchers designing new studies in this field, what is the minimum number of measurements tools that should be used in their study?”
 At least 1 of the 7 measurements tools from the core outcome set 12 (17) 5 (16) 6 (32) 1 (25) 0 (0)
 At least 4 of the 7 measurements tools from the core outcome set 13 (19) 7 (22) 4 (21) 1 (25) 1 (7)
 Only the 7 measurements tools from the core outcome set (i.e., no other measures should be used) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
 At least all 7 of the measurements tools from the core outcome set (i.e., additional measures may also be used) 20 (29) 12 (38) 5 (26) 2 (50) 1 (7)
 I am not sure 25 (36) 8 (25) 4 (21) 0 (0) 13 (87)