reliability

• reliability 


  refers to how consistent the findings from an investigation or measuring device are. A measuring device is said to be reliable if it produces consistent results every time it is used
• ways of testing reliability- test-retest


  • administrate a test or questionnaire
  • then wait a sufficient amount of time and re-test them
• ways of testing reliability- inter-observer reliability 


  the extent to which there is an agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour

  measured by correlating the observation of two or more observers
• improving reliability 


  questionnaires- must do the re-test overtime to make sure questionnaires are reliable
• improving reliability


  interviews:

  • use same interviewer each time
  • all interviewers must be properly trained
  • structured interviews
  • fixed questions
• improving reliability- experiments 


  • lab experiments- researcher has strict control
  • more replicable
• improving reliability- observations 


  • making sure behavioural categories have been fully operationalised