Using appropriate Kappa statistic in evaluating inter-rater reliability. Short communication on “Groundwater vulnerability and contamination risk mapping of semi-arid Totko river basin, India using GIS-based DRASTIC model and AHP techniques”

Abstract

In this article, some misuses of Kappa statistic in the original paper [Chemosphere, 307, 135831] are discussed. By using DRASTIC and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) models, the authors have assessed the groundwater vulnerability of Totko, India. High nitrate concentrations in groundwater have been found in highly vulnerable areas, and the accuracy of the models has been assessed through Pearson's correlation coefficient and Kappa coefficient. However, using Cohen's Kappa to estimate the intra-rater reliabilities (IRRs) of the two models is not appropriate on the condition of ordinal categorical variables in five categories in the original paper. We briefly introduce the Kappa statistic and propose to use weighted Kappa to compute IRRs under such conditions. To conclude, we recognize that this does not significantly alter the conclusions of the original paper, but it is necessary to ensure that the appropriate statistical tools are used.