Procedia Economics and Finance· 2015
How Reliable are Measurement Scales? External Factors with Indirect Influence on Reliability Estimators
- 1,384citations
- 2015year
Short summary
External factors like respondent age, gender, education, and living situation can significantly alter Cronbach's Alpha reliability estimates for measurement scales, even for standardized instruments.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- External factors can indirectly influence Cronbach's Alpha reliability estimator.
- Respondent characteristics (age, gender, education, religiousness, living situation) impact Alpha values.
- Survey type and participant relevance also affect reliability estimates.
- Variations in Cronbach's Alpha can significantly affect research results.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
In social economic researches we often need to measure non-observable, latent variables. For this we use special research instruments, with uni and multi dimensional scales designed for measuring the constructs of interest. Validity and reliability of these scales are crucial and special tests have been developed in this respect. Reliability concerns often arise, due to external factors that can influence the power and significance of such tests. Even for standardized instruments variations are possible, and they could seriously affect research results. The purpose of the present study is to investigate if and how external factors could influence a largely used reliability estimator - Cronbach Alpha. Several scales commonly used in marketing researches were tested, using a bootstrapping technique. Results show that important differences in the values of Cronbach Alpha are possible due to indirect influence from external factors - respondents’ age, gender, level of study, religiousness, rural/urban living, survey type and relevance of the research subject for the participants to the survey.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Procedia Economics and Finance, 2015 · DOI ↗
Continue with a free account
Ask the paper: 3 free questions a day about this paper; save it, get its citation, new summaries every day for your field. Takeaways are Premium.
Continue free on the webSign in with Google or Apple; no card needed. You come back to this paper.
On your phone:
Field: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting