MBA Business Administration

STATISTICS AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (BUS 637)

Assignment #5
Reliability, Validity, and Sensitivity
Eman Osama Khalil
1195027
 Three criteria for good measurement

The three main standards for evaluating measurement are reliability, validity, and
sensitivity.

1. Reliability defined as an indicator of a measure’s internal consistency.

The main feature of the reliability criterion is the attempt to measure in
several ways, and the result is similar. (Zikmund. &Carr. 2013)

Types of reliability:-

A)The internal reliability it represents internal consistency represents a measure

homogeneity or the extent to which each indicator of a concept converges on some
common meaning. There are two types of internal consistency:
1. The split-half method defined as a method for assessing internal consistency by
checking the results of one-half of a set of scaled items against the results from the other
half.
2. The coefficient alpha defined as the most commonly applied estimate of a multiple-
item scale reliability. It represents the average of all possible split-half reliabilities for a
construct.

B) The external reliability it represents by test-retest reliability which is defined as

administering the same scale or measure to the same respondents at two separate points
in time to test for stability.

2. Validity defined as the accuracy of a measure or the extent to which a

score truthfully represents a concept. The main feature of validity is the
accuracy that deals more with how a measure assesses the intended
concept. (Zikmund. &Carr. 2013)

Types of validity:-
A) Face validity defined as a scale content logically appears to reflect what was intended
to be measured.
B) Content validity defined as the degree that a measure covers the breadth of the
domain of interest.
C) Criterion validity defined as the ability of a measure to correlate with other standard
measures of similar constructs or established criteria.
D) Construct validity defined as an exists when a measure reliably measures and
truthfully represents a unique concept; consists of several components including face
validity, content validity, criterion validity, convergent validity, and discriminant
validity.
E) Convergent validity defined as the concepts that should be related to one another are
in fact related, highly reliable scales contain convergent validity.
F) Discriminant validity represents the uniqueness or distinctiveness of a measure; a
scale should not correlate too highly with a measure of a different construct.

3. Sensitivity defined as a measurement instrument's ability to accurately

measure variability in stimuli or responses. The main importance of
sensitivity is knowing the changes in attitudes or other hypothetical
constructs are investigation. (Zikmund. &Carr. 2013)

References:-
Zikmund,Banin. Carr, Griffin. (2013). Business research method. 9th
edition. P(301-306).