title: Establishing equivalence: methodological progress in group-matching design and analysis.
abstract: This methodological review draws attention to the challenges faced by intellectual and developmental disabilities researchers in the appropriate design and analysis of group comparison studies. We provide a brief overview of matching methodologies in the field, emphasizing group-matching designs used in behavioral research on cognition and language in neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, Fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, and Williams syndrome. The limitations of relying on p values to establish group equivalence are discussed in the context of other existing methods: equivalence tests, propensity scores, and regression-based analyses. Our primary recommendation for advancing research on intellectual and developmental disabilities is the use of descriptive indices of adequate group matching: effect sizes (i.e., standardized mean differences) and variance ratios.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Waisman Center, Madison, WI 53705, USA. kover@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Sara T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Kover
authors.forename: Amy K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Atwoo
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis; D005600:Fragile X Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D057216:Propensity Score; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012107:Research Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018401:Sample Size; D018980:Williams Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis