Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026

The Ladder Rung Walking Task: A Scoring System and its Practical Application.
Published on: June 12, 2009
The London handicap scale: a re-evaluation of its validity using standard scoring and simple summation
C Jenkinson1, J Mant, J Carter
1Health Services Research Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Institute of Health Sciences, Headington, Oxford, UK.
Objective:
To assess the validity of the London handicap scale (LHS) using a simple unweighted scoring system compared with traditional weighted scoring
Methods:
323 patients admitted to hospital with acute stroke were followed up by interview 6 months after their stroke as part of a trial looking at the impact of a family support organiser. Outcome measures included the six item LHS, the Dartmouth COOP charts, the Frenchay activities index, the Barthel index, and the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Patients' handicap score was calculated both using the standard procedure (with weighting) for the LHS, and using a simple summation procedure without weighting (U-LHS). Construct validity of both LHS and U-LHS was assessed by testing their correlations with the other outcome measures.
Results:
Cronbach's alpha for the LHS was 0.83. The U-LHS was highly correlated with the LHS (r=0.98). Correlation of U-LHS with the other outcome measures gave very similar results to correlation of LHS with these measures.
Conclusion:
Simple summation scoring of the LHS does not lead to any change in the measurement properties of the instrument compared with standard weighted scoring. Unweighted scores are easier to calculate and interpret, so it is recommended that these are used.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Ratio Level of Measurement
A set of data measured using the ratio scale takes care of the ratio problem and provides complete information. Ratio scale data are like interval scale data, except they have a zero point and ratios can be calculated. For...
Weighted Mean
For example, consider the number of goals scored in the matches of a tournament. While computing the average number of goals scored in the tournament, it may be more important to...
Introduction to z Scores
z scores help...
Testing a Claim about Standard Deviation
The hypothesis testing for the claim of population standard deviation (or variance) requires the data and samples to be random and unbiased. The population distribution also must be normal. There is no specific requirement on the sample size as the estimation is based on the chi-square distribution.
As a first step, the hypothesis (null and alternative) concerning the claim about...
Sign Test for Matched Pairs
To conduct the sign test, we first calculate the differences in value between...
Introduction to z Scores
z scores help...

