Reliability for: Dairy calf disbudding wounds

Disbudding, a painful procedure, permanently damages the horn-bud tissue
either with a hot iron (heat) or caustic paste (chemical). The resulting
wounds persist for an average of 7-9 wk for hot-iron or 14-18 wk for the
caustic paste method. Throughout this healing process, disbudding wounds
can be characterized by their tissue composition. To create consistency
among our research team with identifying these stages of healing, we have
developed supporting materials. This Dryad submission contains information
for evaluating observer reliability when describing disbudding wounds in
dairy calves. The wound scoring system and definitions we have used in
previous research are included, along with a 110-photo test containing
examples of the different tissue types. These photos are intended to be
used to test observer reliability before data collection begins, during
data collection, or afterwards. Included are: (1) the gold standard key
for comparison, (2) a blank, formatted Excel sheet for data entry, and (3)
an example response from an intern. Finally, the R code (kappa R package
irr, version 0.84.1) used for calculating intra- and
inter-observer reliability of disbudding wounds is presented. The outcomes
of the analysis of the gold standard vs. gold standard and gold standard
vs. an intern are shown. These data and resources can be used in future
research to support reliable scoring among observers.