EUnetHTA Adaptation Glossary (beta)

Reliability: The extent to which an observation that is repeated in the same, stable population yields the same result (i.e. test-retest reliability). Also, the ability of a single observation to distinguish consistently among individuals in a population.

The interconnection between the terms:

Relevance

In the context of the WP5 adaptation toolkit, relevance is about similarities between the HTA report for adaptation and the needs of the user i.e. is the policy and/or research question posed sufficiently similar to warrant adaptation of this report? And do parts of this report address areas that the user wishes to address in their report? i.e. technology use and development, safety, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and/or organisational aspects.

Relevance

Relevance is a term used to describe how pertinent, connected, or applicable some information is to a given matter. Some diseases might need additional measurements. One has to see if the current measurements are sufficient or if there have to be some new measurements implemented for special diseases. There are various perspectives of relevance: objective, subjective and a mixed perspective.

Reliability

Relevance refers to the extent to which an HTA is applicable for decision-makers and addresses an essential policy question. The main issue is whether the topic of a report is usable and needed by HTA users

Reliability refers to the degree to which results from an HTA report can be replicated.

In the context of adapting HTA reports, a reliable report is one that a potential user can trust and rely on: they can trust that what it says is true. If so, they may be adopted or considered for adaptation for another setting. One way of assessing reliability in a standardized way is through the use of quality checklists, such as those that are included in the EUnetHTA Toolkit.