Improving lesion conspicuity in abdominal dual-energy CT with deep learning image reconstruction: a prospective study with five readers

Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) is a widely used reliability index in test-retest, intrarater, and interrater reliability analyses. This article introduces the basic concept of ICC in the content of reliability analysis.

Calculating the sample size in scientific studies is one of the critical issues as regards the scientific contribution of the study. The sample size critically affects the hypothesis and the study design, and there is no straightforward way of calculating the effective sample size for reaching an accurate conclusion. Use of a statistically incorrect sample size may lead to inadequate results in both clinical and laboratory studies as well as resulting in time loss, cost, and ethical problems. This review holds two main aims. The first aim is to explain the importance of sample size and its relationship to effect size (ES) and statistical significance. The second aim is to assist researchers planning to perform sample size estimations by suggesting and elucidating available alternative software, guidelines and references that will serve different scientific purposes.

Evaluations of interrater agreement and interrater reliability can be applied to a number of different contexts and are frequently encountered in social and administrative pharmacy research. The objectives of this study were to highlight key differences between interrater agreement and interrater reliability; describe the key concepts and approaches to evaluating interrater agreement and interrater reliability; and provide examples of their applications to research in the field of social and administrative pharmacy. This is a descriptive review of interrater agreement and interrater reliability indices. It outlines the practical applications and interpretation of these indices in social and administrative pharmacy research. Interrater agreement indices assess the extent to which the responses of 2 or more independent raters are concordant. Interrater reliability indices assess the extent to which raters consistently distinguish between different responses. A number of indices exist, and some common examples include Kappa, the Kendall coefficient of concordance, Bland-Altman plots, and the intraclass correlation coefficient. Guidance on the selection of an appropriate index is provided. In conclusion, selection of an appropriate index to evaluate interrater agreement or interrater reliability is dependent on a number of factors including the context in which the study is being undertaken, the type of variable under consideration, and the number of raters making assessments. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.