Multimodal Assessment (Including Triangulation)

Introduction

The aim of this entry is to give a short introduction to the basic concept of multimodal assessment. It deals with the definition of the concept and its differentiation from other concepts, points out the relevance of the strategy in research and practice, emphasizes the main aspects and gives some examples of application in the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy. Finally, some proposals for future developments are given.

Definitions

It is generally agreed that human behaviour and experience have to be recorded in a multimodal way (other terms occasionally used: multimethod, multimethodically). Thus, distinctions are made between the following aspects (Baumann et al., 1985): databases, sources of data and functional ranges (see Table 1).

On occasions another aspect is added: the type of instruments which are used to assess the relevant aspects of interest (e.g. rating scales, achievement tests, technical procedures).

A term with a similar meaning is multiaxial classification, which is used in psychiatry and clinical psychology. This involves describing the patient on different axes or dimensions with the aim of structuring information (about the patient), in order to obtain a more adequate representation of the complexity of the clinical picture and to gather information about the [Page 607]patient which is relevant to treatment. In general, the following axes (not to be confused with axes or dimensions in factor analyses) are distinguished: clinical syndromes, disabilities/global assessment of functioning or environmental/circumstantial factors.

Relevance

Multimodal assessment can be understood as a general framework which has to be specified for the concrete assessment of individual persons or groups of persons, making it necessary to select specific instruments. The choice should be made according to specific criteria. On the one hand, methodological aspects should play a central role (e.g. high psychometric quality, especially reliability and validity). At the same time conceptual considerations should be of equal relevance. This means instruments should be used which allow the characterization of the important aspects of the construct in question.

A multimodal approach is generally required for evaluation, e.g., of psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs research in order to cope with the complexity of the phenomena studied. Multimodal assessment in this area is increasingly gaining importance because of the range of competing psychotherapeutic methods, the development of disturbance-specific treatment approaches as well as manualized/standardized therapy approaches. It is necessary to choose a multimodal approach in order to do justice to the complexity of this area and to account for the variance as to the degree of exactness in databases and data providers as well as functional ranges.

Furthermore, the necessity of a multimodal approach arises from the need to reduce investigator-dependent rating bias and results in the inclusion of different perspectives. With regard to the self-rating scales, bias may include acquiescence, central tendency, or social desirability, on the level of observer-rating scales it may come from insufficient experience with the scale, response sets like generosity error or error of leniency. In planning a study, care has to be taken that it contains sufficient distinct measures to cover the domain of interest, but also that it does not include redundant measures (reduction of statistical power).

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