Open AccessThe Accuracy of Guestimates
Author(s) -
Iain McLean,
Christopher M. Anderson,
Cath White
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of the royal society of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.38
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1758-1095
pISSN - 0141-0768
DOI - 10.1177/014107680309601007
Subject(s) - scratch , ruler , computer science , tape measure , sample (material) , sample size determination , test (biology) , measure (data warehouse) , medical physics , medicine , statistics , data mining , mathematics , operating system , chemistry , physics , paleontology , chromatography , quantum mechanics , geometry , biology
At times a clinician must describe the size of a lesion when measurement presents difficulties. A 'guestimate' may then be recorded. We tested the accuracy of forensic clinicians (10 physicians and 1 nurse) in guestimating the sizes of ten test objects, comparing their performance with 13 individuals from other professions. The participants were permitted to handle the objects but not to use a measuring device. For three of the objects (a balloon, a scratch and a coin) the entire sample of participants significantly overestimated size, by 13-22%. Both participant groups overestimated the size of a scratch, the clinicians being more accurate but not significantly so. Guestimates should be avoided unless the use of a ruler or tape measure will be against the interests of the client.
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