title: The problem of generalizing to a language population: a "random" controversy.
abstract: The rationale behind the use of item statistics as well as objections to their use are reviewed. It is argued that investigators conducting language research with disordered populations should follow the example of those conducting language research with normal populations and consider calculating item statistics if they wish their results to generalize beyond the specific items tested.
authors.affiliation: School of Communication Sciences and Disorders McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Orchard
mesh_terms: D001037:Aphasia; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011897:Random Allocation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012106:Research; D013223:Statistics as Topic