Exploring a New Application of Construct Specification Equations (CSEs) and Entropy: A Pilot Study with Balance MeasurementsShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Entropy, E-ISSN 1099-4300, Vol. 25, no 6, article id 940Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Both construct specification equations (CSEs) and entropy can be used to provide a specific, causal, and rigorously mathematical conceptualization of item attributes in order to provide fit-for-purpose measurements of person abilities. This has been previously demonstrated for memory measurements. It can also be reasonably expected to be applicable to other kinds of measures of human abilities and task difficulty in health care, but further exploration is needed about how to incorporate qualitative explanatory variables in the CSE formulation. In this paper we report two case studies exploring the possibilities of advancing CSE and entropy to include human functional balance measurements. In case study I, physiotherapists have formulated a CSE for balance task difficulty by principal component regression of empirical balance task difficulty values from Berg’s Balance Scale transformed using the Rasch model. In case study II, four balance tasks of increasing difficulty due to diminishing bases of support and vision were briefly investigated in relation to entropy as a measure of the amount of information and order as well as physical thermodynamics. The pilot study has explored both methodological and conceptual possibilities and concerns to be considered in further work. The results should not be considered as fully comprehensive or absolute, but rather open up for further discussion and investigations to advance measurements of person balance ability in clinical practice, research, and trials. © 2023 by the authors.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI , 2023. Vol. 25, no 6, article id 940
Keywords [en]
metrology, Rasch model, task difficulty, validation
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-65672DOI: 10.3390/e25060940Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85163886265OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-65672DiVA, id: diva2:1786900
Note
Correspondence Address: J. Melin; Measurement Science and Technology Unit, Division of Safety and Transport, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Gothenburg, 41258, Sweden.
This research received no external funding.
2023-08-102023-08-102023-08-10Bibliographically approved