Chapter 15

Question 1

What does the nurse researcher designing a research study recognize, regarding reliability and validity?

Answer 1

A measure can be considered to be reliable while not found to be valid

A measure can be considered to be neither reliable nor valid

A measure can be found to be both reliable and valid

Question 2

A nurse researcher selects tests to estimate the stability of the instrument that he will be using in his study. What should he choose?

Answer 2

Test-retest reliability

Parallel reliability

Question 3

The extent of variability in test scores that is attributable to error rather than a true measure of the dependent variable is known as what?

Answer 3

Error variance

Question 4

What does a test score or measurement consist of?

Answer 4

Error variance plus the true score

Question 5

When a subject is answering a question in a socially desirable way, the data will contain what?

Answer 5

Constant error

Question 6

Researchers used an instrument to measure self-esteem in adolescent mothers. To measure the validity of this instrument, they used a second instrument known to measure self-esteem in women. What type of validity were they measuring?

Answer 6

Concurrent validity

Question 7

The nurse researcher decides to administer two tools that theoretically measure the same construct to the same subjects and perform a correlational analysis. This is used in an effort to test what type of validity?

Answer 7

Construct validity

Question 8

Researchers administered one tool that measured the concept of hope and another that measured the concept of anxiety to the same group of subjects. The scores on the first instrument were negatively related to the scores on the second instrument. This is a measure of what type of validity?

Answer 8

Divergent validity

Question 9

What is the approach used when a variety of measurement strategies are used to examine the relationship between instruments that should measure the same construct and between those that should measure different constructs?

Answer 9

Multitrait-multimethod approach

Question 10

A researcher identifies two groups of individuals: one expected to score extremely high and the other expected to score extremely low on an instrument measuring the construct “empowerment.” The instrument is administered, and the differences in scores are examined. What is the approach being used and the type of validity being measured?

Answer 10

Contrasted-groups approach to test construct validity

Question 11

All items in a tool should measure the same concept or characteristic. This is known as what?

Answer 11

Homogeneity

Question 12

The relationship between the error variance, the true variance, and the observed score is known as what?

Answer 12

The reliability coefficient

Question 13

The study shows that KR-20 coefficient to be 0.01. What does this indicate?

Answer 13

No correlation among the error variance, true variance and observed score

Question 14

A nurse researcher divides a questionnaire in half, with the even-numbered items in one group and the odd-numbered items in a second group, and calculates a reliability coefficient for the two halves. What method of determining reliability is the researcher using?

Answer 14

Split-half reliability

Question 15

What attribute of an instrument is the KR-20 coefficient measuring?

Answer 15

Homogeneity

Question 16

Which measurement would a researcher use to test for reliability when the data are in dichotomous (yes/no) format?

Answer 16

KR-20 coefficient

Question 17

Which measurement would a researcher use to test for reliability when the data are in Liberty-scale response format?

Answer 17

Chronbachs’s alpha

Question 18

Interrater reliability is expressed as what?

Answer 18

A percentage of agreement between scores

Question 19

A chronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.94 was obtained for an instrument. What does this indicate?

Answer 19

A high degree of internal consistency

Question 20

Which reliability measure is considered to be a test of stability?

Answer 20

Test-retest reliability

Question 21

Which reliability measure is considered to be a test of equivalence?

Answer 21

Parallel or alternate-form reliability

Question 22

Which reliability measure is considered to be a test of homogeneity?

Answer 22

Split-half reliability

Cronbach’s alpha

Question 23

The nurse researcher uses an instrument that shows r=.85. What does this indicate?

Answer 23

Test-retest reliability

Question 24

The nurse researcher finds a Kappa level of .90. What does this indicate?

Answer 24

Tentative conclusions can be drawn

Question 25

Which reliability measures are considered to be tests of stability?

Answer 25

Parallel or alternate form reliability and test-retest reliability