The maximum possible score was 11 and a study scoring seven or more was classified as a high-quality study and low-quality study otherwise.
In a pilot study score > 3 was demonstrated to rule in SMD with 85% sensitivity and 96% specificity (Terluin, personal communications).
This simple framework was used to evaluate an appropriate selection of peer-reviewed references to assign a Study Reliability "score" to the study design, endpoints, and conclusions compared to established data quality guidelines.
Instead of scoring the exact same slides, four serial sections were prepared for each and every animal in a study, and scored independently (supplementary material Fig. S4).
Now a study of scores of elephant feet shows that the lump really does turn into bone.
Indeed, the 2013 Electoral Integrity Project, a study that scored 66 countries on the integrity of their elections, rated the United States low in categories related to elections systems and structures like "voting district boundaries," "voter registration," and "campaign finance".
A study was scored low-medium if it met the conditions noted above but some uncertainties existed.
A second observer, blind to the hypotheses of the study, scored a random sample of 20% of the trials.
An expert radiologist at UCLA Medical Center who was not a participant in the study scored expertise posttests.
Subjects in the pilot study scored an average of 0.52 (±0.012 SEM) on the pilot DCI.
