The frequency of rounds in a proficiency test: does it affect the performance of participants?

Abstract

A controlled experiment has been carried out to test whether the performance of participants in a proficiency test is improved as a result of doubling the frequency of distributing the test materials in the test. The performance of a randomly selected experimental group was compared with that of a corresponding control group after doubling the frequency of rounds in the experimental group over a period of two years. No statistically significant change in performance was detected.