Indexing systematic rater agreement with a latent-class model

A latent-class model of rater agreement is presented for which 1 of the model parameters can be interpreted as the proportion of systematic agreement. The latent classes of the model emerge from the factorial combination of the "true" category in which a target belongs and the ease with which raters are able to classify targets into the true category. Several constrained cases of the model are described, and the relations to other well-known agreement models and kappa-type summary coefficients are explained. The differential quality of the rating categories can be assessed on the basis of the model fit. The model is illustrated using data from diagnoses of psychiatric disorders and classifications of individuals in a persuasive communication study.