Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 24, 2026

A Protocol of Manual Tests to Measure Sensation and Pain in Humans
Published on: December 19, 2016
On the electronic measurement of pain intensity: Can we use different pain intensity scales interchangeably?
Elisabet Sánchez-Rodríguez1, Elena Castarlenas1, Rocío de la Vega1
1Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain.
Abstract:
The objective of this work was to study the agreement between four pain intensity scales when administered electronically: the Numerical Rating Scale-11, the Faces Pain Scale-Revised, the Visual Analogue Scale and the Coloured Analogue Scale. In all, 180 schoolchildren between 12 and 19 years old participated in the study. They had to report the maximum intensity of their most frequent pain using the electronic versions of the four scales. Agreement was calculated using the Bland-Altman method. Results show that the electronic versions of Numerical Rating Scale-11, Coloured Analogue Scale and Visual Analogue Scale can be used interchangeably.
Related Concept Videos
Sound Intensity Level
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and...
Pain
Analgesia and Pain Management
Interval Level of Measurement
Data measured using the interval scale are similar to ordinal level data because they have a definite arrangement. However, in the interval level of measurement, the differences between data values are meaningful even though the data does not have a starting point.
Temperature is measured using the interval scale. It is measurable data, and the difference between...

