Attributes of Reliability in Quantitative Research

Table 2.
Attributes of Reliability in
Quantitative Research
Attributes Description
1. Internal Consistency or Homogeneity The extent to which all the items on a
scale measure one construct
2. Stability or Test-Retest Correlation The consistency or results using an

instrument with repeated testing
3. Equivalence Consistency among responses of multiple

users of an instrument, or among
alternate forms of an instrument
1. Internal consistency or homogeneity is when an instrument measures a
specific concept. This concept is through questions or indicators and
each question must correlate highly with the total for this dimension.
For example, teaching effectiveness is measured in terms of seven
questions. The scores for each question must correlate highly with the
total for teaching effectiveness.
There are three ways to check the internal consistency or
homogeneity of the index.
a) Split-half correlation. We could split the index of “exposure

to televised news” in half so that there are two groups of two
question, and see if two sub-scales are highly correlated.
That is, do people who score high on the first half also score high
on the second half?
b) Average inter-item correlation. We can also determine the internal
consistency for each question on the index. If the index is
homogeneous,
each question should be highly correlated with the other three
questions.
c) Average item-total correlation. We can correlate each question with

the
total score of the TV news exposure index to examine the internal
consistency of items. This gives us an idea of the contribution of each
item to the reliability of the index.
2. Stability or test-retest correlation. This is an aspect of
reliability where many researchers report that a highly
reliable test indicates that the test is stable over time.
Test-reset correlation provides an indication of stability over
time. It is an extent to which scores on a test are essentially
invariant over time. This definition clearly focuses on the
measurement instrument and the obtained test scores in
terms of test-retest stability. An example of this is when we
ask the respondents in our sample the four questions once
in the month of September and again in December. We can
examine whether the two waves of the same measures
yield similar result.
3. Equivalence. Equivalence reliability is measured by the correlation of scores between
different version of the same instrument , or between instrument that measured the same or
similar construct, such that one instrument can be reproduced by the other. If we want to
know the extent to which different investigators use the same instrument to measure the same
individuals at the same yield consistent results. Equivalence may also be estimated by question
measuring the same concepts with different instrument, for example, survey questionnaire
and official records, on the same sample, which is known as multiple-forms reliability.
When you gather data, consider readability of the instrument. Readabillity refers to the level
of difficultly of the instrument relative to the intented users. Thus, an instrument in English
applied to a set of respondents with no education will be useless and unreadable.
The student who intends to use an instrument used in an earlier investigation is well advised
to review the contents of the instrument. If possible, you have to conduct a second run of
validation to make sure that the instruments you are using possess the criteria mentioned
above.
Quantitative Data Collection Methods
In quantitative research, data collection methods rely on random sampling
and structured data collection instruments that fit various experiences into
predetermined response categories that produced results that are easy to
summarized, compare, and generalize.
Since quantitative research is concerned with the testing of hypotheses
derived from theory and or being able to estimate the size of a phenomenon
of interest participant may be randomly assigned to different treatments
depending on the research question or objectives.
If this is not feasible, the researcher may collect data on participant and
situational characteristics in order to statistically control for their influence
on the dependent variable. If the intent is to generalize from the research
participants to a larger population, the researcher will employ probability
sampling to select participants.
Sources of data
Data can be collected from to sources namely ; primary sources and secondary sources. Data
collected from primarysources are known as primary data and data collected from secondary
sources are called secondary data.
Primary data are also known as raw data which can be collected from the original source in a
controlled or an uncontrolled environment. An example of a controlled environment is an
experimental research where certain variables are being controlled by the researcher. On the other
hand, data collected through observation or questionnaire survey in a natural setting are example
of data obtained in an uncontrolled environment. Secondary data are data obtained from the
secondary sources such as reports, books, journals, documents, magazines, the web and more.
Data Collection Methods

There are many methods to collect data, depending on our research design and the
methodologies employed in your research study. The following are the techniques in gathering data
for quantitative research:
Interviews
The use of interview as a data collection method begins with the
assumption that the participants’ perspectives are meaningful, knowable,
and can be made explicit, and that their perspectives affect the success of
the project. The following are the types of interviews that could be used in
data collection.
a.) Structured Interview. In quantitative research like survey research,
interviews are more structured than in qualitative research. In a
structured interview, the researcher ask a standard set of questions and
nothing more. The interview follows a specific format with the same line
of questioning. The aim of this approach is to ensure that each interview is
presented with exactly the same questions in the same order. Structured
interviews are also known as standardized interviews or a researcher-
administered survey that must be performed by skied researchers.
b. Face-face interviews. Interviewing face-to-face remains the most frequently used
quantitative research method. Interviews can be conducted in the respondent’s home or
workplace, in halls or even simply on the street. It has a distinct advantage or enabling the
researcher to established rapport with potential participants and therefore gain their
cooperation. These interviews yield highest response rate in survey research. They also allow
the researcher to clarify ambiguous answers and when appropriate, seek follow-up
information. Disadvantages include impractical when large samples are involved, time
consuming and expensive.
c.)Telephone Interviews are less time consuming and less expensive. The researcher has
ready access to anyone who has a telephone. Telephone interviews are conducted by
experienced telephone interviews who are skilled at building rapport with the respondents.
The response rate of this interview is not as high as the face-to-face interview and
considerably higher than the mailed questionnaire. The sample may be biased to the extent
that people without phones are part of the population about home the researcher wants to
draw inferences. Much of the telephone work consist of usage and attitude surveys,
costumer satisfaction surveys or exploration of the potential for new products or services.
Most of the interviews use Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing to ensure that
interviewer asks the right questions to the right people.
d.) Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) is a
form of personal interview but instead of completing a
questionnaire, the interviewer brings along a laptop or hand-
held computer to enter the information directly into the
database. This method saves time involved in processing the
data, as well as saving the interviewer from carrying around
hundreds of questionnaires. However, this type of data
collection method can be expensive to set up and requires
that interviews have computer and typing skills.

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Table 2.

2. Stability or Test-Retest Correlation The consistency or results using an

3. Equivalence Consistency among responses of multiple

a) Split-half correlation. We could split the index of “exposure

c) Average item-total correlation. We can correlate each question with

Data Collection Methods

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