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 resultseverytime 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
