HealthMeasures Scoring Service

The HealthMeasures Scoring Service is a free, web-based application that scores raw participant responses and returns T-scores by email. No software installation or licensing is required.

Response Pattern Scoring

The HealthMeasures Scoring Service uses “response pattern scoring” to calculate T-scores. This item response theory (IRT) -based method individually scores each item response using information specific to that item as part of the overall computation of the T-score. Response pattern scoring accounts for differences in symptom severity and functional status that are measured by different items. For example, selecting “almost always”, a raw response score of 4, to a question about running 10 miles would result in a higher T-score than selecting the same response to a question about walking one block since running 10 miles represents greater physical function than walking a block. This is the gold standard scoring approach because it:

• Produces more precise scores (less error).
• Accommodates missing data (only items that have been answered contribute to the T-score for a given individual).
• Increases power to detect change in scores over time or between groups.
• Avoids error-prone manual score calculation.

Response pattern scoring is preferred over manual scoring. Manual scoring relies on summing up all response scores. This summing does not account for differences in symptom severity and functional status that are measured by different items. For example, a response pattern of 1-2-3-2 and a response pattern of 3-1-2-2 both have a summed score of 8, but the responses to individual items are different. Manual scoring would assign both the same T-score. Response pattern scoring would produce 2 different T-scores.

When to Use the HealthMeasures Scoring Service

When API-powered scoring (which uses response pattern scoring) is not feasible, the HealthMeasures Scoring Service is the preferred scoring approach. The HealthMeasures Scoring Service is especially valuable when you:

• Want participants who skip items to still receive a score.
• Want to compare scores for small subgroups of respondents (fewer than 75 people).
• Want to interpret scores at the individual level.
• Want to score a custom short form using a subset of items from one of the HealthMeasures item banks.

How to Use the HealthMeasures Scoring Service

• Follow the steps below to upload a data file of raw participant responses.
• If you are scoring a translated HealthMeasure, identify the measure’s English language measure name and follow the instructions for scoring the English version of the measure.
• After you are emailed a file with calculated T-scores for all measures, learn how to Interpret Scores.
• Watch this brief demonstration for additional help.