Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jan;38(1):144-65.
doi: 10.1080/15374410802575461.

Applications of generalizability theory to clinical child and adolescent psychology research

Kimberley D Lakes  1 , William T Hoyt
Affiliations

Applications of generalizability theory to clinical child and adolescent psychology research

Kimberley D Lakes et al. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2009 Jan.

Abstract

Using generalizability theory to evaluate the reliability of child and adolescent measures enables researchers to enhance precision of measurement and consequently increase confidence in research findings. With an observer-rated measure of child self-regulation, we illustrate how multiple sources of error variance (e.g., raters, items) affect the dependability (replicability) of scores and demonstrate methods for enhancing dependability of observer ratings. Using ratings of 181 children, we illustrate the use of two-facet (i.e., raters and items as sources of error) and three-facet (i.e., raters, items and occasions) analyses to optimize design features of future studies using this measure. In addition, we show how generalizability theory provides a useful conceptual framework for thinking about determinants of scores on acquaintance (e.g., teacher or parent) ratings, as well as observer ratings, and sheds light on the strengths and limitations of both types of data for child and adolescent clinical research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Fully crossed research design.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Nested research design.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Achenbach TM, McConaughy SH, Howell CT. Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin. 1987;101:213–232. - PubMed
    1. American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association; 1999.
    1. Borkenau P, Riemann R, Angleitner A, Spinath FM. Genetic and environmental influences on observed personality: Evidence from the German Observational Study of Adult Twins. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2001;80:655–668. - PubMed
    1. Brennan RL. Generalizability theory. New York: Springer; 2001.
    1. Brooks SJ, Kutcher S. Diagnosis and measurement of adolescent depression: A review of commonly utilized instruments. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. 2001;11:341–376. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources