Study of the Reliability and Validity of the Measurement Method and the Number of Measurements Needed for Reaction Time

Abstract

[Purpose] To clarify the reliability and validity of the measurement method and the number of measurements needed for reaction time measurement during walking. [Subjects and Methods] Three healthy adults were recruited for this study. During comfortable walking, verbal response time measurements after sound stimulation were performed 30 times using a PowerLab and IC recorder. [Results] In most cases, the intraclass correlation coefficient based on the values measured by the PowerLab and IC recorder were 0.90 or more, and the validity of the value measured using the IC recorder was high. Reliability coefficients for 30 measurements were 0.984 for the PowerLab and 0.980 for the IC recorder. In addition, the reliability coefficient of the 1st to 5th blocks was low. [Conclusion] The results suggest that it is appropriate to carry out 5 measurements after 5 practice trials.