Deck 15: Reliability and Validity

Question 1

A new instrument has been determined to be highly valid. The nurse researcher should interpret this finding to mean what?

A) It is sensitive but not specific.
B) Its use results in minimal random errors.
C) It accurately measures level of mentation.
D) Determination of interrater reliability is unnecessary.

Answer 1

It accurately measures level of mentation.

Question 2

Which type of validity is demonstrated by administering a test in which all items relate to wound care, and then evaluating student performance in caring for patients with wounds in the clinical setting?

A) Face validity
B) Content validity
C) Construct validity
D) Criterion-related validity

Answer 2

Criterion-related validity

Question 3

Nurse researchers critiquing research reports should be concerned with the assessment of the validity and reliability of study instruments to do what?

A) To determine the utility of the instruments for triangulation
B) To assess the relationships between the hypotheses and the research questions
C) To determine whether the concepts and variables were measured adequately
D) To assess whether the concept under study is being treated as a dependent or an independent variable

Answer 3

To determine whether the concepts and variables were measured adequately

Question 4

A nurse researcher determines an instrument's homogeneity using which type of reliability?

A) Split-half reliability
B) Test-retest reliability
C) Interrater reliability
D) Alternate form reliability

Question 5

Which type of validity is most difficult to establish?

A) Content validity
B) Construct validity
C) Predictive validity
D) Concurrent validity

Question 6

A nurse researcher assesses the degree to which individual items on a scale cluster together around multiple dimensions using what?

A) Factor analysis
B) Split-half reliability
C) Cronbach's alpha coefficient
D) Kuder-Richardson coefficient

Question 7

A researcher who is developing a new instrument to measure pain has been informed that the instrument has face validity. The researcher's next step should be to do what?

A) Use the instrument in a parent study.
B) Use the instrument in a pilot study.
C) Assess the reliability of the instrument.
D) Assess the content validity of the instrument.

Question 8

Which type of validity is demonstrated when a nurse researcher submits items of an instrument to a panel of experts to evaluate item clarity?

A) Content validity
B) Construct validity
C) Concurrent validity
D) Criterion-related validity

Question 9

A nurse researcher describes an instrument that is administered repeatedly and obtains the same results as having what?

A) Validity
B) Reliability
C) Consistency
D) Predictability

Question 10

An ear temperature probe that consistently reports body temperature at a degree lower than the patient's actual temperature has what type of reliability or validity problem?

A) Reduced reliability, systematic error
B) Reduced validity, random error
C) Increased validity, systematic error
D) Increased validity, random error

Question 11

During development of an instrument to measure self-esteem, the nurse researcher administered the instrument to individuals who were substance abusers and to individuals who were not substance abusers and anticipated a significant difference in scores. This method of establishing construct validity is categorized as what?

A) Factor analysis
B) Convergent validity
C) Discriminant validity
D) Contrasted-groups approach

Question 12

What type of validity is demonstrated by examining the extent to which a passing grade in a nursing course is correlated with passing the registered nurse licensure examination?

A) Content validity
B) Construct validity
C) Predictive validity
D) Concurrent validity

Question 13

A nurse researcher administered a test anxiety questionnaire to a group of nursing students before they attended a test anxiety workshop and then administered a different questionnaire to the same nurses immediately following the workshop. This is indicative of which type of reliability?

A) Split-half
B) Test-retest
C) Parallel form
D) Alternate form

Question 14

A nurse researcher should be concerned about an instrument's degree of internal consistency because it means what?

A) The instrument is appropriate to use to measure a single concept.
B) The instrument has low measurement error and high error variance.
C) More refinement of the instrument is needed before it can be applied.
D) The instrument is valid, but the reliability has yet to be determined.

Question 15

The reliability coefficient of a new instrument is established at 0.86. The nurse researcher should interpret this finding to mean what?

A) High error variance; high reliability
B) High error variance; low reliability
C) Low error variance; high reliability
D) Low error variance; low reliability

Question 16

What is the significance of concurrent validity to a nurse researcher?

A) The degree of correlation between the measure of the concept and some future measure of the same concept
B) The degree of correlation of two measures of the same concept administered at the same time
C) The extent to which a test measures a theoretical construct or trait
D) The representativeness of the items to measure a specific concept

Question 17

When the nurse researcher demonstrates that an instrument is highly reliable, which type of error is reduced?

A) Random error
B) Variance error
C) Persistent error
D) Systematic error

Question 18

What property is established when the results of two separately administered tests that measure the same domain or concept are highly correlated?

A) Validity
B) Stability
C) Equivalence
D) Homogeneity

Question 19

A nurse researcher would want to use a Kuder-Richardson (KR-20) coefficient to establish the internal consistency of an instrument in which case?

A) When questions are open-ended
B) When multiple choice tests are analyzed
C) When the instrument uses a Likert-type response scale
D) When the instrument is designed to measure more than one concept

Question 20

A nurse researcher describes an instrument that produces the same result when it is administered to the same subjects under similar conditions on two or more occasions as possessing what?

A) Homogeneity
B) Equivalence
C) Stability
D) Validity

Question 21

The nurse researcher notes that test-retest correlations were r = 0.79 when given over 4-week intervals. This is interpreted to indicate what?

A) Equivalence
B) Discriminability
C) Reliability
D) Homogeneity

Question 22

Which measures used to test reliability are specific for homogeneity? (Select all that apply.)

A) Test-retest reliability
B) Item-to-total correlation
C) Parallel or alternate form
D) Split-half reliability
E) Kuder-Richardson coefficient
F) Cronbach's alpha
G) Interrater reliability

Question 23

In testing an instrument consisting of 25 items for homogeneity using the "item-to-total" correlation, 8 items were found to have a low correlation to the total. The nurse researcher interprets this information to mean that the researcher should do what?

A) Use the instrument without changes.
B) Use the instrument only with a multitrait-multimethod approach.
C) Retain the 8 items with low correlation and delete the other 17 items.
D) Delete the 8 items with low correlation and retain the other 17 items.

Question 24

Which measures used to test reliability are specific for equivalence? (Select all that apply.)

A) Test-retest reliability
B) Item-to-total correlation
C) Parallel or alternate form
D) Split-half reliability
E) Kuder-Richardson coefficient
F) Cronbach's alpha
G) Interrater reliability

Question 25

The nurse researcher notes that the initial test for reliability of an instrument has been conducted on a sample that has different characteristics from those of the current study sample. The researcher should do what?

A) Conduct a pilot study on the current sample to determine whether reliability is maintained.
B) Use the instrument with the current sample because reliability holds across samples.
C) Use the Kuder-Richardson formula to recalculate the reliability coefficient.
D) Discard or reject the instrument.

Question 26

When validity of an instrument is determined, the nurse researcher assesses what? (Select all that apply.)

A) Stability
B) Variance
C) Accuracy
D) Precision

Question 27

A newly developed instrument is found to have a Cronbach's alpha of 0.82. The nurse researcher interprets this to mean what?

A) The instrument has no internal consistency.
B) The instrument has a low degree of internal consistency.
C) The instrument has a moderate degree of internal consistency.
D) The instrument has a relatively high degree of internal consistency.

Question 28

A nurse researcher would want to use a Cronbach's alpha coefficient to establish the internal consistency of an instrument in which case?

A) When questions are open-ended
B) When questions/statements demand a yes or no response
C) When the instrument uses a Likert-type response scale
D) When the instrument is designed to measure more than one concept

Question 29

How should the nurse researcher describe variability in test scores attributed to error rather than to actual differences in behavior? (Select all that apply.)

A) Random error
B) Variance error
C) Persistent error
D) Systematic error

Question 30

Which type of reliability exists when consistency of observation, measured by a correlation coefficient, is noted between two or more research assistants who record their observations of an event at the same time?

A) Internal consistency
B) Parallel forms
C) Test-retest
D) Interrater

Question 31

A group of researchers developing an instrument performed a test-retest on the instrument with an interval of 5 days. This testing resulted in a correlation coefficient of 0.38. The nurse researcher interprets this as being indicative of what?

A) Instrument is stable; high reliability
B) Instrument is stable; low reliability
C) Instrument is unstable; high reliability
D) Instrument is unstable; low reliability

Question 32

Testing of a new instrument demonstrates that it has a high degree of internal consistency. What does this indicate to the nurse researcher?

A) The instrument is appropriate to use to measure a single concept.
B) The instrument has low measurement error and high error variance.
C) More refinement of the instrument is necessary before it can be applied.
D) The instrument is valid, but the reliability has yet to be determined.