Training and Application of Correct Information Unit Analysis to Structured and Unstructured Discourse

Correct Information Units (CIU) analysis is one of the few measures of discourse that attempts to quantify discourse as a function of communicating information efficiently. Though this analysis is used reliably as a research tool, most studies' apply CIUs to structured discourse tasks and do not specifically describe how raters are trained. If certified clinical speech-language pathologists can likewise reliably apply CIU analysis within clinical settings to unstructured discourse, such as the discourse of people with aphasia (PWA), it may allow clinicians to quantify the information communicated efficiently in clinical populations with discourse deficits. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if using the outlined training module, clinicians are able to score CIUs with similar inter-rater reliability across both structured and unstructured discourse samples as researchers. Method: Four certified SLPs will undergo a two-hour training session in CIU analysis similar to that of a university research staffs' CIU training protocol. Each SLP will score CIUs in structured and unstructured language samples collected from individuals diagnosed with aphasia. The SLPs' scores within the structured and unstructured discourse samples will be compared to those of a university research lab staffs'. This will determine (1) whether SLPs can reliably code CIUs when compared with research raters in a lab setting when both using the same two-hour CIU training and resources allotted; (2) whether there is a significant difference in reliability when structured and unstructured discourse is analyzed.