Reliability and validity are two concepts in research that are
important for defining and measuring bias and distortion.
Reliability refers to the extent to which assessments are
consistent. If a person takes the same personality test several
times and always receives the same results, the test is said to be
reliable.
The most common method to test reliability is;
- Test-retest reliability – This is a measure of
reliability obtained by administering the same test twice over a
period of time to a group of individuals. The scores from Time 1
and Time 2 can then be correlated in order to evaluate the test for
stability over time. For example, A test designed to assess student
learning in psychology given to a group of students twice, the
second time after a gap of a week of the first test. The obtained
correlation coefficient would indicate the stability of the
scores.
- Parallel forms reliability- This is a measure
of reliability obtained by administering different versions of an
assessment tool. Both versions must contain items that probe the
same construct, skill, knowledge base, etc. to the same group of
individuals. The scores from the two versions can then be
correlated in order to evaluate the consistency of results across
alternate versions. For example: To evaluate
the reliability of an intelligence assessment tool, a large set of
items that all pertain to intelligence assessment tool is created
and then randomly divided the questions into two sets, that would
represent the parallel forms.