Reliability

Question 1

What is internal reliability?

Answer 1

Extent to which a test/measure is consistent within itself

Question 2

What is external reliability?

Answer 2

Extent to which a test produces consistent results over several occasions

Question 3

What are reliability issues?

Answer 3

Lack of operationalised variables - makes replication impossible and makes inter-rater reliability issues more likely

Order effect - can occur in a repeated measures design

Lack of standardised procedure - jeopardise reliability

Inconsistent measuring tools - jeopardise reliability

Uncontrolled environment - jeopardise reliability

Question 4

How can reliability issues be dealt with?

Answer 4

Increasing levels of control - use standardised procedures, instructions and scientific measuring equipment, reducing the effect of extraneous variables

Counterbalancing - Involves splitting sample into two halves where they complete conditions in opposit order, negating impact of order/practice effects

Question 5

How can reliability be assessed?

Answer 5

• Split-half reliability testing
• Test-retest reliability
• Inter-rater reliability

Question 6

What is split-half reliability?

Answer 6

Test asnwers are split in half and seeing whether the same of similar scores were obtained in both halves

If so, internal reliability is high; if not, it is low and individual questions would need to be re-ordered or redesigned

Question 7

What is test-retest reliability?

Answer 7

Testing and retesting the same participants over time, with the same test, and comparing their scores

If scores are the same, the test has external reliability

Question 8

What is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 8

Two or more psychologists produce consistent results by using a standardised procedure, agreed coding system, or correlation of their data