title: On measurements and their quality: paper 1: reliability - history, issues and procedures.
abstract: This is the first in a short series of papers on measurement theory and practice with particular relevance to intervention research in nursing, midwifery, and healthcare. In this article I discuss reliability, its origins in classic measurement theory, important issues to consider when operationally defining reliability for a particular study, correlational procedures for assessing the reliability of data once collected, including test-retest reliability, split-half reliability, and Cronbach's coefficient α. Some important insights into reliability provided by attenuation theory are also offered.
authors.affiliation: University of South Florida College of Nursing, Tampa, FL 33612, USA. jbeckste@health.usf.edu
authors.forename: Jason W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Beckstead
mesh_terms: D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results