First report on the reliability and validity of speech handicap index in ...

measure to estimate that the construct or dimension being assessed is stable over time.
The values of Total SHI scores, SHI speech domain, SHI psycho-social domain and
overall speech quality were found to be highly significant by using Spearman’s rank
correlation coefficient.
Validity is often seen as the most important consideration in evaluation of a measure. 37,38
However, it must be remembered here that validity does not refer to any inherent
characteristic of the measure; measures themselves are never valid or invalid. 37 Although
several types of validity have been described in the literature, the most common and
important types are construct validity, group validity, content validity and criterion
validity. 35 Construct validity refers to the extent to which a measure assesses the specific
domain or construct of interest. 35 A widely used method of assessing construct validity is
to examine how hypothetical relationships are confirmed. Therefore, the more often the
hypothetical relationships are confirmed, the greater the construct validity of the survey
variables is assumed to be. 41,42 Different domains of SHI were compared with similar
domains of the existing standard, validated UWQOL questionnaire with the help of
Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Total SHI score, the SHI speech domain, the
SHI psycho-social domain and overall SHI speech assessment question and speech
domain of UWQOL were found to be highly significant. The correlations between Total
SHI score, the SHI speech domain, the SHI psycho-social domain and overall SHI speech
assessment question and social domain of UWQOL showed moderate correlation. The
relatively low values of SHI psycho-social domain when compared with social domain of
UWQOL may be because of incorporation of two grossly different sub-domains (pain
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