A non-parametric approach to estimate the total deviation index for non-normal data.

Concordance indices are used to assess the degree of agreement between different methods that measure the same characteristic. In this context, the total deviation index (TDI) is an unscaled concordance measure that quantifies to which extent the readings from the same subject obtained by different methods may differ with a certain probability. Common approaches to estimate the TDI assume data are normally distributed and linearity between response and effects (subjects, methods and random error). Here, we introduce a new non-parametric methodology for estimation and inference of the TDI that can deal with any kind of quantitative data. The present study introduces this non-parametric approach and compares it with the already established methods in two real case examples that represent situations of non-normal data (more specifically, skewed data and count data). The performance of the already established methodologies and our approach in these contexts is assessed by means of a simulation study.