The inter-rater reliability of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised Visual Memory test

Nine clinical psychologists experienced in administering the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), and nine inexperienced trainee clinical psychologists scored a videotape of 12 subjects completing the WMS-R Visual Memory test. The subjects were selected to provide a wide range of visual memory scores. Data were analysed for the two subgroups of experienced and inexperienced raters and for the entire group of 18 raters. Inter-rater reliability was extremely impressive in all three analyses, with Kendall's coefficient of concordance always exceeding .92, (p < .001). No significant difference emerged when experienced and inexperienced raters were compared. The results suggest that the WMS-R visual memory test has acceptable inter-rater reliability for both experienced and inexperienced raters. Recommendations are made regarding improving this reliability even further.