A new approach to integrating data from multiple informants in psychiatric assessment and research: mixing and matching contexts and perspectives.

By H. Kraemer, D. Ph., J. Measelle, Jennifer C. Ablow, Marilyn J. Essex, W. T. Boyce, D. M., D. Kupfer. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2003

761 citations recorded by the source corpus.

OBJECTIVE When there exists no single source of information (informant) to validly measure a characteristic, it is typically recommended that data from multiple informants be used. In psychiatric assessment and research, however, multiple informants often provide discordant data, which further confuse the measurement. Strategies such as arbitrarily choosing one informant or using the data from all informants separately generate further problems. This report proposes a theory to explain observed patterns of interinformant discordance and suggests a new approach to using data from multiple informants to measure characteristics of interest. METHOD Using the example of assessment of developmental psychopathology in children, the authors propose a model in which the choice of informants is based on conceptualizing the contexts and perspectives that influence expression of the characteristic of interest and then identifying informants who represent those contexts and perspectives in such a way as to have the weaknesses of one informant canceled by the strengths of another. RESULTS Applications of this approach to several datasets indicate that when these principles are followed, a more reliable and valid consensus measure is obtained, and failure to obtain a reliable, valid measure is indicative of some deviation from the principles. CONCLUSIONS In obtaining a consensus measure, the issue is not determining how many informants are needed but choosing the right set of informants.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Management Science and Operations Research, Statistics and Probability

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9104f9e3d92028a9e34bf33600c28762a43b2845

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In Management Science and Operations Research

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Citations in the corpus

Informant discrepancies in the assessment of childhood psychopathology: a critical review, theoretical framework, and recommendations for further study. (2005, neutral): “, 1987) and, more recently, differences in the perspectives by which different informants observe the child’s behavior (observer vs. self; Kraemer et al., 2003).”
Trajectories of Classroom Externalizing Behavior: Contributions of Child Characteristics, Family Characteristics, and the Teacher-Child Relationship during the School Transition. (2005, background): “Inconsistencies between multiple informants’ reporting of externalizing behavior (Angold & Costello, 1996; Kraemer et al., 2003) and the influence of contextspecific features on child behavior may explain the limited predictive utility of maternal reports of parenting practices.”
Teacher and Classroom Characteristics Associated With Teachers’ Ratings of Prekindergartners’ Relationships and Behaviors (2006, background): “Many studies have documented that parents’ and teachers’ reports of children’s competencies have significant rater effects (e.g., Canivez, Watkins, & Schaefer, 2002; Konold, Walthall, & Pianta, 2004; Kraemer et al., 2003; McConaughy & Ritter, 1995).”
Toward an Evidence-Based System for Innovation Support for Implementing Innovations with Quality: Tools, Training, Technical Assistance, and Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement (2012, methodology): “Using a multi-method, multi-informant approach increases validity of data (Kraemer et al. 2003) dose (Keener 2007; Mihalic and Irwin 2003).”
Implications of emotion regulation on young children’s emotional wellbeing and educational achievement (2016, methodology): “Hence the use of multiple methods to assess emotion regulation is essential (Larsen and Prizmic-Larsen 2006) in an attempt to make sense of the discrepant sources of data (Kraemer et al. 2003).”
Annual research review: A meta-analysis of the worldwide prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents. (2015, background): “Alternative strategies include the definition of specific rules for each diagnosis and the identification of optimal informants based on conditional agreement between informants (Bird, Gould, & Staghezza, 1992; Kraemer et al., 2003).”
Examination of the relationship between specific classes of social skill behaviors and academic competence on the social skills improvement system rating-scales (2012, methodology): “Within the optimal informant method, Kraemer et al. (2003) describe a process of choosing one informant, and basing all of the final judgments regarding assessment on their report. Though this method makes conceptual sense as in theory one reporter could have a greater knowledge about a particular b”
Prosocial and antisocial behavior in preadolescence: Teachers' and parents' perceptions of the behavior of girls and boys (2008, background): “Disagreement by teachers and parents in their definite judgments may be the consequence of different behavior of the child in school and at home (Kraemer et al., 2003).”
Discrepancies Between Parent-Child Reports of Internalizing Problems Among Preadolescent Children: Relationships with Gender, Ethnic Background, and Future Internalizing Problems (2011, background): “…child’s behavior (Achenbach et al., 1987) and differences in the perspectives (or biases) by which different informants observe the child’s behavior (Kraemer et al., 2003). van de Looij-Jansen et al. 445 Internalizing problems are recognized poorly by parents as they are often not visible and…”
Marriage and Suicide among Chinese Rural Young Women (2010, methodology): “same target person, data were integrated with the following three principles based on previous experiences (Kraemer et al. 2003).”
Parenting in a digital age: A review of parents' role in preventing adolescent cyberbullying (2017, background): “…the domains of family functioning in relation to what they know and are able to observe (e.g., parents and perceived levels of knowledge about adolescents' whereabouts and activities vs. adolescents and perceived levels of disclosure about their whereabouts and activities) (Kraemer et al., 2003).”