One aspect of research methodology that often confuses students is the topic of reliability.
This is because there are really two main types of reliability:
MEASUREMENT reliability and RESEARCH reliability.
These two reliabilities are very different.
Measurement reliability is all about assessing the reliability or consistency of the scores of your measurement instruments.
These assessments can take many forms: internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, parallel forms reliability, inter-rater reliability, etc.
Coefficient/Cronbach’s alpha fits in here as a measure of the internal consistency of the scores of a measurement instrument.
Research reliability is all about the reliability of your overall research.
This refers to the trustworthiness of your research and is based on your diligence as a researcher: the thoroughness of your recordkeeping, interview transcripts, your data cleaning methods, the completeness of your data and its description, etc.
Many studies have been retracted based on their research (un)reliability.
So, which aspect of reliability goes where in your document?
Describe your measurement reliability in the section of your methodology which requires you to describe your measuring instrument(s).
Describe your research reliability in one of the last sections, where you are evaluating your overall study.
Would you like me to check the way you’ve described reliability in your research?
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