American Statistical Association New York City Metropolitan Area Chapter Short Course April 1, 2014

This short course will provide an exposition on health measurement scales - specifically, on patient-reported outcomes. Some key elements in the development of a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure will be noted. The core topics of validity and reliability of a PRO measure will be discussed. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, techniques to understand the underlying structure of a PRO measure, will be described. The topic of mediation modeling will be presented as a way to identify and explain the mechanism that underlies an observed relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable via the inclusion of a third variable, known as a mediator variable. Approaches to interpret PRO results will be elucidated in order to make results useful and meaningful. Other topics such as item response theory and longitudinal analysis will be considered if time permits. Illustrations will be provided mainly through real-life examples and also through simulated examples using SAS.