Conceptions of reliability revisited and practical recommendations.
We discuss reliability definitions from the perspectives of classical test theory, factor analysis, and generalizability theory. For each method, we discuss the rationale, the estimation of reliability, and the goodness of fit of the model that defines the reliability coefficient to the data. Similarities and differences in the three approaches are highlighted. Finally, we provide a computational example using generated data to illustrate the differences among the different reliability methods.
Klaas Sijtsma, PhD, is Professor, Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University, The Netherlands. L. Andries van der Ark, PhD, is Associate Professor, Research Institute for Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Klaas
K
Sijtsma
L Andries
LA
van der Ark
D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015399:Nursing Research; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results