Time-interval analysis of interjudge and intrajudge agreement for stuttering event judgments

In response to the recognized need for a valid and reliable way to measure stuttering, this study investigates a measurement methodology based on time-interval analyses of stuttering event judgments. Three groups of judges, differing in stuttering judgment experience, identified stuttering events in 12 repeated presentations of five 1-min speech samples. Fixed time intervals ranging from 0.2 sec to 7.0 sec were then superimposed on the event judgments by a data analysis program. Inter- and intrajudge interval-by-interval agreement, and agreement for total numbers of intervals containing stuttering event judgments, were calculated for each judge group. Results showed that agreement was superior among more experienced judges and in longer interval lengths. Agreement varied across speech samples but not across the repeated judgment opportunities. Agreement was maximized at greater than chance levels for an interval of approximately 3.0 sec, but even this best agreement did not exceed a mean of approximately 60% for experienced judges.