Coefficients alpha, beta, omega, and the glb: Comments on Sijtsma

W Revelle, RE Zinbarg�- Psychometrika, 2009 - Springer
Psychometrika, 2009Springer
There are three fundamental problems in Sijtsma (Psychometrika, 2008):(1) contrary to the
name, the glb is not the greatest lower bound of reliability but rather is systematically less
than ω t (McDonald, Test theory: A unified treatment, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 1999),(2) we agree
with Sijtsma that when considering how well a test measures one concept, α is not
appropriate, but recommend ω t rather than the glb, and (3) the end user needs procedures
that are readily available in open source software.
Abstract
There are three fundamental problems in Sijtsma (Psychometrika, 2008): (1) contrary to the name, the glb is not the greatest lower bound of reliability but rather is systematically less than ω t (McDonald, Test theory: A unified treatment, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 1999), (2) we agree with Sijtsma that when considering how well a test measures one concept, α is not appropriate, but recommend ω t rather than the glb, and (3) the end user needs procedures that are readily available in open source software.
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