title: Clinical trials in psychosocial medicine: methodologic and statistical considerations. Part III. Assessing measurement techniques in psychosocial oncology.
abstract: The focus of the paper is on methodologic issues in assessing the validity of measurement techniques used in psychosocial oncology. Practical problems involved in assessing the validity of approaches, measures, and methods used in psychosocial oncology are outlined and briefly discussed. Techniques for partially addressing these problem areas are presented. Data from a study on the quantification of hope are examined in a multitrait-multimethod matrix assessment of construct validation which showed that little confidence can be placed in the validity of present methods of assessing "hope." Following a discussion of alternative statistical approaches to analyzing a multitrait-multimethod matrix for construct validity, the potential applicability of this approach to clinical oncology is presented through a hypothetical study on quantifying tumor types.
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D013038:Specialization; D013223:Statistics as Topic