Reliability

• What does reliability in research refer to?


  Consistency of results
• What does validity in research indicate?


  Results satisfy objectives
• How is reliability defined in the context of research studies?


  Reliability means consistency in results when a study is replicated
• What does it mean if a study is not reliable?


  It means the results are not consistently found upon replication
• Can a study be reliably invalid? Give an example.


  Yes, a study can consistently produce inaccurate results
• What is internal reliability?


  Consistency of a measure within itself
• How can internal reliability be assessed?


  By ensuring items on a questionnaire test the same thing
• What is external reliability?


  Consistency of results from one occasion to another
• How can external reliability be tested?


  By performing an experiment on different days or in different labs
• What should a psychologist do if a questionnaire item is not consistent?


  Remove the item and check for correlation among remaining items
• Can internal and external reliability be tested separately?


  Yes, they can be assessed independently
• Does high internal reliability guarantee high external reliability?


  No, high internal reliability does not ensure high external reliability
• What is split-half reliability?


  A method to assess internal reliability by comparing two halves of a test
• How is split-half reliability conducted?


  Participants take a test once, and their answers are divided and compared
• What should the individual scores on both halves of a split-half reliability test indicate?


  They should be very similar