Description
This procedure describes how to evaluate results from qualitative methods, where the results are “detected”/ “not detected”. It does not describe how to organise validation studies, perform robust testing of methods, choose study matrices, prepare test-samples, and test for homogeneity or storage. In this document, only the valid test results are considered . That could be results from a comparison of two qualitative methods, where one of the methods could be an alternative method (test-kit) or evaluation of a method against expected/“true results” carried out in an in-house, an intermediate or in a full collaborative method performance study. Further, the procedure describes evaluation of semi-quantitative methods. This procedure is meant to be a practical guide for evaluating qualitative and semi-quantitative results, a procedure that can be used by everyone, without requiring profound statistical knowledge.
An Excel spreadsheet illustrating the calculations described in this procedure is available for download here.