Human Measurement Techniques in Speech and Language Pathology

Human Measurement Techniques in Speech and Language Pathology gives an overview of elicitation methods in the assessment and diagnosis of speech and language disorders and explains approaches to the qualification of the obtained data in terms of agreement and reliability. Despite technological advances in the assessment and diagnosis of speech and language disorders, the role of human judgements is as important as ever. Written to be accessible to students, researchers and practitioners alike, the book not only provides an overview of elicitation procedures of human judgement such as visual analog scaling, Likert scaling etc. but also presents methodological and statistical approaches to quality assessment of judgements. The book introduces statistical procedures for processing scores obtained in paired comparisons and in the context of signal detection theory, and introduces software relevant for the calculation of a large number of coefficients of reliability and agreement. Featuring a wealth of reader-friendly pedagogy throughout, including instructions for using SPSS and R software, clarified by many illustrations and tables, example reports, and exercise questions to test the readers understanding, it is an ideal companion for advanced students and researchers in the field of speech pathology.

Toni Rietveld, PhD, is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Language and Communication at Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands, specializing in the methodology of speech and language pathology. He is the co-author of two previous textbooks on statistical techniques for applied linguistics, and was a methodologist in a hospital for rehabilitation.

1. Measuring in speech pathology 2.Obtaining human judgements in speech and language pathology 3. Assessing human judgements with statistical software 4: Assessing reliability in speech and language pathology 5. Assessment of agreement in speech and language pathology 6. Processing data in speech pathology with signal detection theory and paired comparisons Appendix: Answers to exercises.