Abstract
A continuous scale observational method was used as part of a methods comparison study to estimate force and velocity for the upper extremities. Scales developed by Latko (1997) were used to collect 11,000 samples of physical factors from videotape. Eighteen workers were observed performing three different tasks. A small inter/intra-observer comparison was done to evaluate the precision and repeatability of the method. Results appear to indicate that observers may show better agreement when estimating more forceful exertions. Wrist velocity estimations showed less variation than forearm rotation, which may indicate that observers have more difficulty estimating velocity of body segments rotating on the longitudinal axis. Further research in this area is needed to ascertain whether observational methods can discriminate between levels of force and velocity measures.
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