Evaluation of the use of consensus values in proficiency testing programmes |
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Authors: | Siu Kay Wong |
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Institution: | (1) Government Laboratory, 88 Chung Hau Street, Homantin, Hong Kong SAR, China |
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Abstract: | Proficiency testing (PT) is an essential tool used by laboratory accreditation bodies to assess the competency of laboratories.
Because of limited resources of PT providers or for other reasons, the assigned reference value used in the calculation of
z-score values has usually been derived from some sort of consensus value obtained by central tendency estimators such as the
arithmetic mean or robust mean. However, if the assigned reference value deviates significantly from the ‘true value’ of the
analyte in the test material, laboratories’ performance will be evaluated incorrectly. This paper evaluates the use of consensus
values in proficiency testing programmes using the Monte Carlo simulation technique. The results indicated that the deviation
of the assigned value from the true value could be as large as 40%, depending on the parameters of the proficiency testing
programmes under investigation such as sample homogeneity, number of participant laboratories, concentration level, method
precision and laboratory bias. To study how these parameters affect the degree of discrepancy between the consensus value
and the true value, a fractional factorial design was also applied. The findings indicate that the number of participating
laboratories and the distribution of laboratory bias were the prime two factors affecting the deviation of the consensus value
from the true value. |
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Keywords: | Proficiency testing Monte Carlo simulation Central tendency estimator Consensus value Experiment design |
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