Reliability - Rm

Question 1

Reliability refers to

Answer 1

Whether something is consistent ie you get the same results again and again

Question 2

Internal reliability

Answer 2

Measure of the extent to which something is consistent within itself eg is your making a questionable about stress levels all questions must relate to stress

Question 3

External reliability

Answer 3

Is the measure of the extent to which one measure of an object varies from another measure of the same object
Eg measuring depression w a shorter questionnaire ppts do both question are andstill come out w same outcome

Question 4

3 ways to asses reliability

Answer 4

Test - retest
Inter-observer
Measuring reliability

Question 5

Test retest

Answer 5

• This is the simplest way to assess reliability
• It involves giving the same questionnaire for example to the same participant to see if they get the same results
• You leave enough time between the two questionnaires to they can’t remember their previous answers
• You correlate the two scores together and if they have a correlation coefficient of at least +0.8 then you can assume it is reliable
• Test-retest is often used in questionnaires but can be used in interviews

Question 6

Inter observer reliability

Answer 6

• This is important in observations
• Seeing something can be very subjective so having two or more people watching the same behaviour/ event can allow you to gain reliability in your observation if you both agree in what you have seen

Question 7

What happens during inter observer reliability (steps from ms)

Answer 7

• Both observers have the agreed behavioural categories
• Observers watch the same event
• Record their data independently from each other
• Data collected from the observers would be correlated to make sure they are similar
• The correlation coefficient should exceed +0.8 for reliability.

Question 8

How to improve reliability of …

Answer 8

Questionariees
Interviews
Observations
Experiments
Content analysis

Question 9

How to improve reliability for questionnaire

Answer 9

Reliability of questionnaires should be measured using test-retest
Comparing the two sets of data should produce correlation that exceed +0.8
If a questionnaire produces low reliability levels, then questions may need to be taken out or reworded.

Question 10

How to improve reliability of interviews

Answer 10

Have the same interviewer everytime
All interviews properly trained
Structures interviews can avoid ambiguous and leading questions which could impact reliability

Question 11

How to improve reliability of observations

Answer 11

Ensure all beh categories have been operationalised, measurable, obvious
Categories shouldn’t overlap
If reliability is low the observers may need more training in using their behavioural categories or discuss their questions

Question 12

How to improve reliability of experiments

Answer 12

Have standardised procedures
Allowing procedures to be consistent every time