RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TREATMENT SELECTION VARIABLES AND TREATMENT OUTCOME IN A CHILD GUIDANCE CLINIC: AN APPLICATION OF DATA-PROCESSING METHODS

Abstract

Interest in the construction and operation of clinical data collection and data-processing systems has increased rapidly as a result of the growing accessibility of tabulating' machines and electronic computers. The Institute for Juvenile Research pioneered in the development of a complex clinical data collection system in 1949. During the ensuing years, the potentialities and limitations of such a system have been more and more clearly delineated. The purposes of the present paper! are (1) to describe and evaluate four uses of a clinical data collection and processing system, and (2) to illustrate two of the uses by means of substantive clinical data. It is recognized that clinical data collection systems may utilize a variety of methods for encoding data. For example, research personnel may apply elaborate coding schemes to interview and test protocols obtained by clinicians. However, the focus of this paper is on the potentialities and limitations of the more usual type of data collection system involving the direct coding of data by clinical staff.