What are reliability measures? How are they used?
What will be an ideal response?
Special statistics called reliability measures help researchers decide whether responses are consistent. Most respondent attitudes are complex and consist of many elements. Be aware of response sets when constructing an index measuring attitudes. For example, some people tend to agree with almost everything asked of them, whereas others tend to disagree. Still others are prone to answer neutrally to everything if given the option. To decrease the likelihood of this happening, it is a good idea to make some statements both favorable and unfavorable to a particular attitude to vary the response choices and still reach an understanding of an individual’s opinion. In this way, respondents are forced to be more careful in their responses to individual items. Exhibit 7.4 displays a hypothetical set of questions designed to solicit respondents’ attitudes toward police in their community.
When scoring an index or scale made up of both favorable and unfavorable statements, you must remember to reverse code the unfavorable items. For example, marking “strongly agree” on the first item in Exhibit 7.4 should not be scored the same as a “strongly agree” response to the second item.
You might also like to view...
The _______________ movement was the drive to prohibit the sale of alcohol in the United States, culminating in the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
The goal of ____ is the following of guidelines.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
Define both criminal and civil law.
What will be an ideal response?
Which of the following best articulates the mantra perpetuated by the police subculture regarding how to handle job-related stress?
a. Take care of yourself so that you can take better care of others. b. Real police officers can handle their own problems without the need for shrinks. c. That’s what partners are for. d. That's what spouses are for.