Reliability studies of incident coding systems in high hazard industries: A narrative review of study methodology

This paper reviews the current literature on incident coding system reliability and discusses the methods applied in the conduct and measurement of reliability. The search strategy targeted three electronic databases using a list of search terms and the results were examined for relevance, including any additional relevant articles from the bibliographies. Twenty five papers met the relevance criteria and their methods are discussed. Disagreements in the selection of methods between reliability researchers are highlighted as are the effects of method selection on the outcome of the trials. The review provides evidence that the meaningfulness of and confidence in results is directly affected by the methodologies employed by the researcher during the preparation, conduct and analysis of the reliability study. Furthermore, the review highlights the heterogeneity of methodologies employed by researchers measuring reliability of incident coding techniques, reducing the ability to critically compare and appraise techniques being considered for the adoption of report coding and trend analysis by client organisations. It is recommended that future research focuses on the standardisation of reliability research and measurement within the incident coding domain.