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Psychosomatic Medicine 28:197-206 (1966)
© 1966 American Psychosomatic Society

The Clinical Physician as a Research Instrument: In Defense of Clinical Judgment as a Scientific Measure

ALAN S. DEWOLFE PH.D.1

1 Veterans Administration Hospital, Downey, Ill.

A Physician's Rating Form (PRF) was devised to facilitate comparison of patients with different diseases. The form assesses recovery to date, current disability and discomfort, anticipated future recovery, and expected long-term disability. Ratings were made by 18 physicians treating the 517 patients who served as subjects for the study. The convergent and discriminant (concurrent) validity of the PRF ratings were evaluated. Relationships both within PRF ratings and between PRF ratings and outside criterion variables indicated considerable convergence and discrimination. The concurrent validity of the PRF ratings was superior to that found with an objective measure of recovery from tuberculosis used in a study previously reported in the literature. These results supported the contention that in some situations the subjective judgment of experts can be the most appropriate measure.

Submitted on August 16, 1965






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Copyright © 1966 by the American Psychosomatic Society