You can also test the reliability of questionnaires in SPSS by calculating the so-called Cronbach’s Alpha. Do you want to know how many respondents you need to achieve this reliability score? You can use a sample size calculator, for example using this link. Reliability in quantitative research is often expressed as a reliability percentage of 95% or 99%. To obtain results that mirror the actual situation as closely as possible, it would be better to add other respondents and for that you could use other methods of selection, like requests on internet fora, additional paper surveys etc. Because it’s mainly students that have participated in the study, its reliability is low. But is that reliable? You want the results to mirror the actual situation, which concerns all vegetarians in the Netherlands.
You notice that it’s mainly your fellow students, from your college town, that reply to your call to participate. You decide to conduct a survey and you use social media (Facebook) for this purpose. Only then can we speak of a reliable study and will your research be reproducible.įor example: You are studying the dietary habits of vegetarians in the Netherlands. When a fellow student would research your topic, you want him or her to obtain practically the same results. In the end, what matters with reliability is that the results of your research match the actual situation as much as possible.
When you look up the term reliability in you research manual, you will often find different definitions. In this article we explain these concepts and give you tips on how to use them in your thesis. We help students with this daily, because describing these research concepts is often not too hard, but using them? That’s a different story! Students in higher professional education as well as for academic students are required to describe these, and both are usually discussed in your methodology. Describing the reliability and validity of your research is an important part of your thesis.
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