Dear Ruth
Have you tried the method described by Bland and Altman:
Bland, J. and Altman, D (1986) Statistical methods for assessing agreement
between two methods of clinical measurements. Lancet 327, 307-310.
Altman, D. and Bland, J. (1983) Measurement in medicine: the analysis of
method comparison studies. The Statistician 32, 307-317
As the titles suggest, the method is designed to compare two different
measurement methods, but it is easily adapted to assess intra-individual
variation.
Rob
At 12:15 7/18/2003 +0100, Ruth F. Carden, Zoology wrote:
>Dear all
>
>I was wondering if any of ye have advice on methodology re
>measurement error of osteological measurements. Basically I want
>to see what my measurement error is like in terms of accuracy and
>percision. I have 4 extant cervid postcranial sets (foreleg, hindleg
>and pelvis bones of both male and female, across different age
>classes - newborns to old ages) and 1 extinct cervid species.. I
>was the only person measuring all bones, so no intervariation
>associated with different measurers.
>
>I have gone through the literature to date and can't find any definite
>article (unless I am missing them) in regard to measurement error
>techniques. Apart from an article by Lynch & O'Sullivan 1993/5.
>
>Originally I was thinking of using 2 adults of each sex from each of
>the extant species and getting 8 replicates and then comparing the
>means and coefficient of variations. But then perhaps this is
>overkilling it. Then I was thinking of taking 1 set of adult bones
>(either sex) from each of the extant species and 1 set from the
>extinct (sex unknown) and doing 5 replicates and then using CVs
>etc.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas on the subject? Or indeed any help in
>regard to this. Obviously ye all at some stage would have to take
>into account measurement error from skeletal samples, so any
>help or insights from past experiences would be of great help.
>
>I hope all is well and looking forward to the replies.
>Kind regards & Slainte
>
>Ruth
>--------------------------------------
>Ruth F. Carden B.Sc.
>Mammal Research Group
>Zoology Department
>National University of Ireland, Dublin
>Belfield, Dublin 4
>Ireland
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Tel: (+)353-1-7162261 (note new number)
>Fax: (+)353-1-7061152
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