Reliability and validity of MINCIR scale for methodological quality in dental therapy research

The clinical paradigm of evidence-based medicine requires afoundation of good quality research upon which clinical and epidemiologicaldecisions can be based. Several instruments have been designedto assess research quality and validated, though most have limitations.The MINCIR scale was designed to determine the methodological quality(MQ) of clinical research, its psychometric properties for dental researchinvolving large-scale evaluations have not yet been determined. The aimof this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the MINCIRscale for assessment of the MQ of dental therapy studies publishedin journals indexed in Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) databases.A validation study was performed on a sample of 99 articles from fourrepresentative ISI dental journals. Criterion validity was determined inrelation to level of evidence (LoE) classification as described by the OxfordCenter for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) ranking system, reliabilitywas determined by calculation of intra-class correlation coefficient(ICC) values, and internal consistency was determined by calculation ofCronbach's alpha. Very good inter-observer reliability (ICC = 0.93), excellenttemporal stability (ICC = 0.97), good internal consistency (Cronbach'salpha = 0.77), and a strong (inverse) correlation with OCEBM LoEs (-0.807;p < .0001) were obtained. These results indicate that the MINCIR scalehas adequate psychometric properties and therefore is a valid option foruse in the assessment of MQ in dental therapy research articles.