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Table 3 Hypotheses

From: Family physicians’ diagnostic gut feelings are measurable: construct validation of a questionnaire

First general hypothesis, relating to diagnostic characteristics with regard to clear-case vignettes:

The correlation between the reference labels of the clear-case vignettes (i.e. sense of reassurance or sense of alarm) and the answers given by the study population to questionnaire items reflecting a sense of reassurance or a sense of alarm is moderate to high.

Specific hypotheses derived from this:

a)

Comparing labels: there is a moderate to high correlation and agreement between the reference labels of the clear-case vignettes and the final sense of reassurance or sense of alarm judgment given by the study population (item 7).

b)

Comparing items of the study population: there is a moderate to high negative correlation between the sense of reassurance item (item 1) and the final sense of reassurance or sense of alarm judgment (item 7) for the clear-case vignettes. There is a moderate to high positive correlation between the sense of alarm items (items 2–6) and the final sense of reassurance or sense of alarm judgment (item 7) for the clear-case vignettes.

c)

Comparing items of the study population: there are moderate to high negative correlations between the sense of reassurance item (item 1) and the sense of alarm items (items 2–6) for the clear-case vignettes, whereas the intercorrelations between the sense of alarm items (items 2–6) are moderate to high.

Second general hypothesis, relating to diagnostic characteristics with regard to the ambiguous-case vignettes:

The correlation between the reference labels of the ambiguous-case vignettes (i.e. sense of reassurance or sense of alarm) and the answers given by the study population to items reflecting a sense of reassurance or sense of alarm is weak to absent.

Specific hypotheses derived from this:

d)

Comparing correlations: there is a weaker correlation between the reference labels of the ambiguous-case vignettes and the final sense of reassurance or sense of alarm judgment (item 7) given by the study population compared to the clear-case vignettes.

e)

Comparing items of the study population: there is a weak correlation between the sense of reassurance item (item 1) or sense of alarm items (items 2–6) and the reference labels, but a moderate to high correlation between the sense of reassurance or sense of alarm items (items 1–6) and the final sense or reassurance or sense of alarm judgment (item 7).