Assessing reliability Flashcards
What is external reliability?
This is a measure of the extent to which one measure of an object varies from another measure of the same object e.g. if one interview was conducted one day and then conducted a week later the outcome should be the same otherwise the interview is not reliable
What is Internet interviewer reliability (or into greater reliability)
This can be assessed by comparing the results from both interviewers with the same interviewees and the same outcomes should be produced
What is internal reliability
This is a measure of the extent to which something is consistent within itself example all the questions on the psychological test should be measuring the same thing
What is a method for measuring internal reliability
A split half method
What is the split half method
This can be calculated by comparing two halves of the test questionnaire or interview this can be done by randomly selecting half the test items and placing them on form a complacently other items on form B therefore you end up with two forms of the same test each form should yield the same score
How would you measure the two resulting scores from a split half reliability test
The two scores can be compared by calculating a correlation coefficient
How do you improve low internal reliability?
You select the test items that produce the greatest similarity and seeing if there is a stronger correlation with the remaining items
What is a measure of external reliability
Test retest method
What is the test retest method
This involves giving the same test or questionnaire or interview to the same person on two separate occasions to see the same results are obtained if the test of questionnaire interviews given at two different times of no treatment in between it it should yield the same results if the results are not similar than the test has low reliability
How do the two scores of the test re test method be compared
By calculating a correlation coefficient
How do you improve low external reliability
A number of factors may cause poor reliability over time – A poorly trained interviewer, ambiguous questions, or inconsistent participatant answers
What is the Rosenberg self-esteem scale?
This is one of the best-known measures of self esteem . Self-esteem refers to the opinion you have of yourself and your value .
What is the dieting belief scale
This is a measure of weight locus of control i.e. the extent to which an individual feels in control of their weight
What are the strengths of questionnaires
Can be easily repeated so that data can be collected from large numbers of people relatively quickly
questionnaires do not require specialist administrators
respondents may feel more willing to reveal personal information than in an interview
What are the strengths of structured interviews
They can be easily repeated
requires less skill than unstructured interviews
easier to analyse than unstructured interviews because answers are given to the same set of questions
What are the strengths of an unstructured or semi structured interview
You can access it deeper insight that may not be revealed by predetermined questions
What are the weaknesses of a questionnaire
Answers may not be truthful because of leading questions and social desirability bias
the sample may be biased because only certain kinds of people fill in questionnaires e.g. literate people who are interested
response that there is a tendency for respondents to answer all questions in the same way regardless of context this would bias their answers
What is a response set?
response set is that there is a tendency for respondents to answer all questions in the same way regardless of context this would bias their answers
What are the weaknesses of a structured interview
The interviewer’s expectations may influence the answers the interviewee gives -
interviewer bias
Internet interviewer reliability may be low
data will be restricted by the predetermined set of questions unlike an unstructured interview
What are the weaknesses of an unstructured interview
More affected by interviewer bias than structured interviews
even more likely to be affected by leading questions
requires well trained interviewers which makes them more expensive
the answers from unstructured interviews and less easy to analyse because they are unpredictable
Freud Proposed that early life experiences create our adult personalities - how?
Freud suggested that frustration or overindulgence during key developmental stages led to predictable personality traits
What is the consequence of frustration over harsh treatment at the oral stage?
Oral aggressive character characterised by aggressiveness domination pessimism envy and suspicion
What is the consequence of frustration over indulgence at the oral stage?
Oral receptive character is optimistic gullible overdependent on others trusting and full of admiration for others
What is the oral stage age
0- 1 1/2 years
