WJEC A-Level Psychology 601-5719-7
Psychology Past to Present — The Five Approaches
Contemporary Debates
Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods
Mathematical Requirements for Psychology (Appendix A: AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4)
Addictive BehavioursAddictive
Autistic Spectrum BehavioursAutistic spectrum
Bullying BehavioursBullying
Criminal BehavioursCriminal
SchizophreniaSchizophrenia
StressStress
Controversies in Psychology
Applied Research Methods
Principles of Research and Application of Research Methods
Reliability
- 3 things to know
- AS Unit 2
Overview
Recall questions on internal reliability and external reliability.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Explain why an unreliable measure cannot be a valid one.
A stress questionnaire contains three items about sleep quality and one asking about political views. Which kind of reliability is threatened?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What does reliability mean in psychological research?
Model answer
Reliability is the consistency of a measurement, meaning whether it produces the same result when the same thing is measured again under the same conditions.
- 2
Define internal reliability.
Model answer
Internal reliability is the extent to which a measure is consistent within itself, so that all of its items or components are measuring the same thing.
- 3
Define external reliability.
Model answer
External reliability is the extent to which a measure gives consistent results when it is used on different occasions or by different researchers.
- 4
A stress questionnaire contains three items about sleep quality and one asking about political views. Which kind of reliability is threatened?
Model answer
Internal reliability, because one item is not measuring the same thing as the rest of the questionnaire.
- 5
A personality test gives a participant a very high score one week and a very low score a fortnight later, although nothing in their life has changed. Which kind of reliability is in doubt?
Model answer
External reliability, because the measure has not produced consistent results across occasions.
- 6
Why does reliability matter when drawing conclusions from a study?
Model answer
If the measure is inconsistent, a difference in scores may reflect the unsteadiness of the measure rather than any real effect.
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