URL:

http://www.tmg-web.com/

Description:

The Measurement Group (TMG) is a Los Angeles-based consulting firm involved in the evaluation of healthcare and social programs, research, data mining, and development of data collection methods and program evaluation. Their main focus appears to be in HIV/AIDS issues, based on their assessment instruments, tools and models.

Types of Information or Instruments:

Available instruments constitute data collection devices, not scales; as in items designed to measure a latent continuum.

Quantity of Instruments:

Their instruments are grouped under six categories, which were developed by TMG and have been used in many studies. The first link, for example, has 86 component modules that includes forms, instructions, and context links. Other categories have significantly fewer numbers of components and associated forms.

Quality of Instrument Descriptions:

The purpose of each survey is described briefly, as well as the associated forms.

Quality of Psychometric Information:

Psychometric data, including reliability and validity, is described elsewhere on the site. One method of accessing it is by selecting "Evaluation Modules and Instruments" from the homepage, then selecting the second link under Instruments entitled "Evaluation Modules for the.." This will open a new window where the various instrument modules have been tested. Choosing any one will bring up its validity and reliability, summarized at top, and a series of graphical representations of their data statistics.

Scale accessibility:

Instruments are readily available for download, primarily as PDFs.

Site provides actual scale items:

The site does provide actual survey instruments within the different categories listed on their instrument pages. Forms are primarily available as PDF files, but there are some in HTML.

User-friendly navigation:

Browsing through this site proves to be overwhelming. There is an over-abundance of information in the form of surveys, associated documents, statistical data, and supporting documentation of every study in which they were involved. Also, unless your screen resolution is set to 1024x768 pixels, it will be necessary to scroll horizontally to see the entire page.

Other types of Information:

A knowledge base provides reliability and validity information for nearly all of the instruments references. One may navigate to the knowledge base directly or link to it via specific sections in the instrument descriptions. The knowledge base also consists of extensive AIDS/HIV information related to care and other aspects, reportedly comprising one gigabyte of data.

Hints:

Their "Links" pages list many relevant sites listed categorically. AIDS/HIV links, each of which have one-sentence description, reside on a separate page from Evaluation and Research links.

Category:

Disease-specific Outcomes > HIV/AIDS