Reliability Flashcards
1
Q
Define reliability
A
The consistency of a research study or measuring test.
2
Q
What are the two types of reliability
A
- internal reliability
- external reliability
3
Q
Define internal reliability
A
Consistency inside the study
4
Q
Define external reliability
A
Where the findings are consistent outside the study
5
Q
Describe the issues of internal reliability
A
- more than one researcher - is their consistency in how they are interpreting behaviour or carrying out the study
- More than one measure - if there is more than one test, then is there consistency of challenge in each test
- within a measure - if a measure has more than one question or item, then are these questions/items consistently measuring the same thing
6
Q
How to overcome the issue of more than one researcher
A
- clearly operationalise variables, so there is less room for different interpretations
- standardise procedures to ensure consistency
- detailed training of researchers to ensure consistency
7
Q
How to overcome issues of there being more than one measure
A
- standardise the measures, e.g. make sure they are the same difficulty
8
Q
How to overcome issues within a measure
A
- standardise each item/question within the study, e.g. each word in the memory list has the same number of letters
9
Q
Describe the issues of external reliability
A
- behaviour is only measured once - the test may not measure behaviour consistently at other times e.g. a personality test may only indicate participants personality traits at the time study was carried out
10
Q
How to overcome the issue of behaviour only being measured once
A
- Ensure test et cetera are designed in relation to measuring behaviours/attitudes beyond one setting or time
11
Q
How to assess internal reliability
A
- Interrater reliability - involves ensuring that 2 or more psychologist produce consistent results within the research by using a standardised procedure or correlation of the data. There is internal reliability if they use consistent measures & there is an 80% agreement or above
- Split half method - involves getting ppts to complete the tasks to measure behaviour, then once done, splitting the ppts test answers in half and seeing whether they got the same scores on the 2 halves of the test
12
Q
How to assess external reliability
A
- test retest - involves testing & retesting the same participants overtime with the same test and comparing the results from one occasion to the next. If the scores are the same overtime, the test has external reliability.
13
Q
A
