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Synonyms

Critical difference; Clinical significance; Clinically significant change; Significant difference

Definition

Reliable Change Index (RCI) is a concept in measurement and assessment. An RCI is a psychometric criterion used to evaluate whether a change over time of an individual score (i.e., the difference score between two measurements in time) is considered statistically significant. Computationally, RCIs represent a ratio, in which the numerator represents an actual observed difference score between two measurements, and the denominator is some form of standard error of measurement of the difference. An RCI indicates whether an individual change score (e.g., between a patient’s pre-intervention and post-intervention assessment) is statistically significantly greater than a difference that could have occurred due to random measurement error alone.

Description

The concept of Reliable Change Index(RCI) refers to a method that is used to test whether a change over time – that...

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Correspondence to Martin Guhn .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Guhn, M., Forer, B., Zumbo, B.D. (2014). Reliable Change Index. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2465

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2465

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

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