Abstract #301949

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JSM 2003 Abstract #301949
Activity Number: 91
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Monday, August 4, 2003 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
Abstract - #301949
Title: Internal Consistency Under Correlated Item Error
Author(s): Joseph F. Lucke*+
Companies: University of Texas Health Science Center
Address: School of Nursing, San Antonio, TX, 78229-3900,
Keywords: coefficient alpha ; internal consistency ; reliability ; correlated item error
Abstract:

Cronbach's coefficient alpha is the primary index of the internal consistency of a psychometric test. If test items have uncorrelated error, internal consistency is a lower bound to the test's reliability. But with correlated item error, the relations between internal consistency and reliability are severely altered. The influence of correlated item error is conveyed strictly through the total item error covariance.The covariance structure of the item error is irrelevant. Increasing the total item error covariance decreases reliability but increases internal consistency. In many cases, internal consistency can exceed reliability. The internal consistency of a true-score equivalent test with positive correlated item error will uniformly exceed its reliability.

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