Skip to contentScholarGate
LibraryBookshelfDeskReview StudioAssistant
Sign in
vocd-D (D Measure)/Evidence
Method evidence record

vocd-D (D Measure)

vocd-D, also called the D measure, is a length-robust index of lexical diversity developed by David Malvern and Brian Richards. Instead of reporting a single type-token ratio, it characterizes how a text's TTR falls as sample size grows and fits that empirical curve to a one-parameter probabilistic model; the fitted parameter D is the diversity score, with higher D meaning richer vocabulary. HD-D, introduced by McCarthy and Jarvis, is the mathematically exact, sampling-free counterpart that computes the same underlying quantity directly from the hypergeometric distribution.

Sources recorded, not reviewed

Source record

Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.

vocd-D / HD-D Measure of Lexical Diversity
Taxonomic method record · process-pipeline / linguistics
  • Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical Diversity and Language Development: Quantification and Assessment. Palgrave Macmillan. · ISBN 9781403902313
  • McCarthy, P. M., & Jarvis, S. (2007). vocd: A theoretical and empirical evaluation. Language Testing, 24(4), 459–488. · DOI 10.1177/0265532207080767
  • McCarthy, P. M., & Jarvis, S. (2010). MTLD, vocd-D, and HD-D: A validation study of sophisticated approaches to lexical diversity assessment. Behavior Research Methods, 42(2), 381–392. · DOI 10.3758/BRM.42.2.381
Open full method

Curated claims

Claims persisted in the evidence ledger, each with its own assessment.

No curated claims yet

This view does not invent a claim assessment when the ledger has none.

Related methods

Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.

Same method familyLexical Diversitymachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Taxonomic bucketMeasure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD)machine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyN-gram Analysismachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Taxonomic bucketType-Token Ratiomachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.

Evidence status

Sources recorded, not reviewed

Bibliographic sources are present. Claim-level evidence review has not been performed.

Sources

3 recorded citations, copied from the method source record.

Actions

Open method page
ScholarGate

A content-first reference library for research methods — what each one is, how it works, and where it comes from.

Open data (CC-BY)

Explore

  • Library
  • Search the library…
  • Browse by field
  • Fields
  • Journey
  • Compare
  • Which method?

Reference

  • Subjects
  • Atlas
  • Glossary
  • Methodology
  • Philosophy

Your tools

  • Bookshelf
  • Desk
  • Chat

Company

  • About
  • Pricing
  • Contact
  • Suggest a method

Entries are compiled from published sources for reference. Verifying the accuracy and suitability of any information for your own use remains your responsibility.

© 2026 ScholarGate · A research-method reference library
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Terms
  • Delete account