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Cognitive Deficits in Neurological Disorders: Methodological Consideration
Authors:
Harrison, J.E. & OWEN, A.M.
Reference:
In J. E. Harrison & A. M. Owen (Eds), Cognitive Deficits in Neurological Disorders. London: Dunitz
Year of publication:
2001
CBU number:
4012
Abstract:
Working within the discipline of neuropsychology brings a number of challenges. First, most psychologists will have been taught scientific methods and consequently the techniques associated with examining and reporting data as both descriptive and inferential statistics. However, faced with a paucity of experimental material, many neuropsychologists are forced to study and report on individual patients. Often patients will be assessed on more than one occasion, often after a surgical or pharmacological intervention has been made. In these circumstances a decision has to be made as to whether any change in score at retest is due to measurement error or to a ‘real’ effect of the therapeutic intervention. Here we review a number of methods by which such a decision can be made and discussion of the merits of each of these techniques.
