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Nursing Research: Reliability and Validity Exam Prep, Exams of Nursing

University College of London (UCL)Nursing

A series of questions and answers related to research methodology, focusing on the concepts of reliability and validity. It covers various aspects of reliability, including stability, internal consistency, and equivalence, as well as different types of validity such as content, construct, and criterion-related validity. Additionally, it addresses potential threats to internal and external validity, offering insights into controlling intrinsic and extrinsic factors in research design. The document serves as a study aid for understanding key concepts in research design and data collection, providing a concise overview of essential principles and methods.

Typology: Exams

2024/2025

Available from 06/11/2025

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Nursing 378 final Exam Questions with
complete Answers 2025.
Reliability - Correct answer The instrument consistently measures a given
trait with precision
The accuracy with which an instrument measures the target attribute
Item-total correlation - Correct answer Stability among individuals
Inter-rater reliability - Correct answer Stability between raters
Test-retest - Correct answer Stability over time
reliability coefficient. - Correct answer Can range from .00 to 1.00.
Coefficients below .70 are considered unsatisfactory.
Coefficients of .80 or higher are desirable.
Stability
Internal consistency
Equivalence - Correct answer What are the three aspects of reliability?
Stability - Correct answer The extent to which scores are similar on two
separate administrations of an instrument
Evaluated by test-retest reliability
Test-retest reliability - Correct answer Requires participants to complete
the same instrument on two occasions
Appropriate for relatively enduring attributes
Cohen's kappa 0.85
Internal Consistency - Correct answer The extent to which all the items on
an instrument are measuring the same unitary attribute
Evaluated by administering instrument on one occasion
Appropriate for most multi-item instruments
The most widely used approach to assessing reliability
Assessed by computing coefficient alpha (Cronbach's alpha)
Alphas ≥.80 are highly desirable.
Equivalence - Correct answer The degree of similarity between alternative
forms of an instrument or between multiple raters/observers using an
instrument
Most relevant for structured observations
Assessed by comparing agreement between observations or ratings of two
or more observers (interobserver/interrater reliability)
Low - Correct answer _____ reliability can undermine adequate testing of
hypotheses.
Procedure used to test them - Correct answer Reliability estimates vary
depending on _________
Lower - Correct answer Reliability is ________ in homogeneous than
heterogeneous samples
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Download Nursing Research: Reliability and Validity Exam Prep and more Exams Nursing in PDF only on Docsity!

Nursing 378 final Exam Questions with

complete Answers 2025.

Reliability - Correct answer The instrument consistently measures a given trait with precision The accuracy with which an instrument measures the target attribute Item-total correlation - Correct answer Stability among individuals Inter-rater reliability - Correct answer Stability between raters Test-retest - Correct answer Stability over time reliability coefficient. - Correct answer Can range from .00 to 1.00. Coefficients below .70 are considered unsatisfactory. Coefficients of .80 or higher are desirable. Stability Internal consistency Equivalence - Correct answer What are the three aspects of reliability? Stability - Correct answer The extent to which scores are similar on two separate administrations of an instrument Evaluated by test-retest reliability Test-retest reliability - Correct answer Requires participants to complete the same instrument on two occasions Appropriate for relatively enduring attributes Cohen's kappa 0. Internal Consistency - Correct answer The extent to which all the items on an instrument are measuring the same unitary attribute Evaluated by administering instrument on one occasion Appropriate for most multi-item instruments The most widely used approach to assessing reliability Assessed by computing coefficient alpha (Cronbach's alpha) Alphas ≥.80 are highly desirable. Equivalence - Correct answer The degree of similarity between alternative forms of an instrument or between multiple raters/observers using an instrument Most relevant for structured observations Assessed by comparing agreement between observations or ratings of two or more observers (interobserver/interrater reliability) Low - Correct answer _____ reliability can undermine adequate testing of hypotheses. Procedure used to test them - Correct answer Reliability estimates vary depending on _________ Lower - Correct answer Reliability is ________ in homogeneous than heterogeneous samples

Lower - Correct answer Reliability is ________ in shorter than longer multi-item scales. Gold standard - Correct answer Chronbach's Inter-rater Test-retest Internal Validity - Correct answer The level of confidence that an experimental treatment or condition made a difference and that rival explanations were systematically ruled out through study design and control. The ability of an instrument to consistently measure what it is suppose to measure Validity - Correct answer The degree to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure Measurement of the "right" thing Needs to be done on multiple populations, settings and situations Correlation of co-efficent used to report: 0.5 or higher is strong but 0.2-0. maybe acceptable Conditions Necessary for Causality - Correct answer Changes in the presumed cause must be related to changes in the presumed effect The presumed cause must occur before the presumed effect There are no plausible alternative explanations for the outcome threats to internal validity - Correct answer Alternative explanations of study outcomes are called Content validity - Correct answer The content of the instrument reflects the attribute. The degree to which an instrument has an adequate sample of items for the construct being measured Evaluated by expert evaluation, often via a quantitative measure—the content validity index (CVI) Construct validity - Correct answer The instrument represents the conceptual issues. Concerned with these questions: What is this instrument really measuring? Does it adequately measure the construct of interest? Face Validity - Correct answer Refers to whether the instrument looks as though it is an appropriate measure of the construct Based on judgment; no objective criteria for assessment Concurrent validity - Correct answer the instrument's ability to distinguish individuals who differ on a present criterion. Two scales measure same thing. Old Depression scale/New Depression Scale Loneliness/Depression Discriminate validity - Correct answer able to distinguish between two characteristics (distinguishes between two diseases) Depression Scale/Happiness Scale

Temporal Ambiguity - Correct answer In RCTs the independent variable is manipulated and then outcome measured - best control for ______

In correlational studies may be unclear which variable occurred first! Selection - Correct answer There is a difference between the experimental and control groups d/t the _____________ of the subjects Biggest problem for non-experimental designs. Problem most often in "nonequivalent groups designs/case control designs Randomization or match assignment helps control for this "threat" History - Correct answer Events that happen at the time of data collection/intervention - like Katrina, 9/11, changed taped on the unit during and IV dsg. Study Co-intervention bias Most likely longitudinal studies or the 1 group before/after design: Maturation - Correct answer Subjects change- they age or get smarter or get sicker Important for longitudinal studies and especially those with children Control - Correct answer Use Statistics - ANCOVA Match subjects by age/level of illness Attrition (Mortality) - Correct answer Loss of subjects from the study Most concern in longitudinal studies Informed subjects about time commitment Screening subjects Make data collection convenient to subjects - Correct answer How can attrition be controlled? Testing - Correct answer Subjects get better at the test Pre-post test concern One group before/after design Instrumentation - Correct answer If data collection instrument changes during data collection or change pre to post test Two raters Ways to control Inter-rater reliability Training to correct Calibration of instruments Placebo effect - Correct answer the fact of having any treatment may cause an effect Hawthorne effect - Correct answer Most concern when researcher is in a position of authority, leadership role (subjects physician). Subject want to please researcher or behave differently b/c being studied Multiple Treatment effect - Correct answer more than one intervention at the same time.

External Validity - Correct answer The ability to generalize the findings from a research study to other populations, places, and situations Population Validity - Correct answer Can the findings be generalized from a sample to a larger group? Example: Can findings be generalized from patients in one medical center to patients in an entire health system? Ecological Validity - Correct answer Can the findings be generalized from one set of environmental conditions to another set of environmental conditions? Example: Can findings be generalized from a medical-surgical unit to a long-term care facility? Threats to External Validity - Correct answer Selection effects Time History Novelty Experimenter effects Selection effects - Correct answer can effect internal &/or external validity! Subject selection most important. Sample should represent the population!! Something unique about this sample Something might be different about people who volunteer. - however even in an experiment - subjects can self select by choosing to not participate or not! Researcher may keep track of those that refuse Time - Correct answer Length of time for a treatment effect to become evident. Need to allow enough time for the test results to manifest Variable that may change over time - winter vs summer, morning vs night History - Correct answer Results must be considered in context of time period. May not be able generalized to the future Testing on a "special" day.... Can we generalize to all 365 days of the year? Novelty - Correct answer Subject response may just be b/c it is new or unusual Experimenter effects - Correct answer Researcher - effects different if done by a different person? Different sample joined b/c of person recruiting so not "true" to real world? Hawthorne effect (could effect Internal & external validity - Correct answer subjects respond differently b/c in study - would not respond this way in everyday life Three ways to deal with Threats - Correct answer Eliminate threat Control the threat Account for the threat Eliminate the threat - Correct answer Researcher is the threat - might designate data collection to an assistant

Variability Can be presented in a table (Ns and percentages), chart or graphically Nominal/Ordinal - Correct answer frequency tables, bar charts, relative frequency, pie charts Interval/Ratio - Correct answer Measures of central tendency, variability, and position, histograms Normal Distribution - Correct answer Characteristics: Symmetric Unimodal Not too peaked, not too flat More popularly referred to as a bell-shaped curve Important distribution in inferential statistics Central Tendency - Correct answer Index of "typicalness" of a set of scores that comes from center of the distribution; measures of the middle or average Median - Correct answer The value which has 50% of other data points above it and 50% of other data points below it Generally used when you want to compare your performance to the performance of others Less affected by extreme scores Median, most stable and widely used indicator of central tendency The mean - Correct answer The arithmetic average Add all of the values and divide by the number of values Can be disproportionately affected by outliers and extreme scores Variability - Correct answer The degree to which scores in a distribution are spread out or dispersed Homogeneity—little variability Heterogeneity—great variability Indexes of Variability - Correct answer Rage and standard deviation. shows whether numbers cluster around the middle with few scores at either extreme Range - Correct answer highest value minus lowest value. Standard deviation (SD) - Correct answer average deviation of scores in a distribution Most frequently used statistic for measuring the degree of variability in a set of scores Uses every value in a distribution Summary of the average amount of deviation of values from the mean Tells how variable scores in a distribution are Roughly 3 SD above and below the mean 68% fall within 1 SD above and below the mean 95% fall within 2 SD from the mean About 2% at each extreme - more than 2 SDs from the mean

Variance - Correct answer Reflects the amount of variation in a data set Measure of dispersion, where the large the variance, the larger the dispersion of scores. Variance is calculated as one of the steps in determining standard deviation. Large values (close to 1.0) reflect greater _________ in data set Small values (close to zero) reflect less _________ in data set Bivariate Descriptive Statistics - Correct answer Contingency tables - frequency distribution in which the frequencies of two variables are cross- tabulated Usually used with nominal data or ordinal data that have few levels or ranks Correlation Coefficients -1.00 to + 1.00 - Correct answer Used for describing the relationship between two variables To what extent are two variables related to each other? The greater the absolute value of the coefficient, the stronger the relationship: Correlation - Correct answer Pearson's r is both a descriptive and an inferential statistic. Tests that the relationship between two variables is not zero. +1.00 - Correct answer Perfect relationship Positive relationship - Correct answer means increments in one variable are associated with increments in the second: .00-+1. Negative relationship - Correct answer two variables are inversely related, increments in one variable area associated with decrements in the second; .00 to -1. Statistical Inference - Correct answer Questions about reliability answered by setting confidence limits Questions about probability answered by hypothesis testing Conclusions concerned with probability of drawing an erroneous conclusion interval or ratio measures - Correct answer Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient (r) most commonly uses ... ordinal measures - Correct answer Spearman's rank-order correlation (r2) uses ... Errors in Summarizing Data - Correct answer Use of an inappropriate statistic (ie: mean never done for nominal data - gender, race, etc.) Demographic data is usually frequency or percentages Common Error - Over Interpretation! - Correct answer Most common with correlation - they want to say one variable "caused" the other. Only an association - not able to draw causal conclusions Confidence Interval - Correct answer Two numerical values defining an interval that we believe, with an identified level of confidence, actually includes the estimated population parameter

not statistically significant Make decision to accept or reject null hypothesis. Parametric Statistics - Correct answer Random samples from defined population Dependent variable measured at interval or ratio level Estimation of at least one variable More powerful Make assumptions about population from which sample was drawn Nonparametric Statistics - Correct answer Do not require the assumptions of parametric test Normal distribution not required Measures data on nominal or ordinal level Less powerful than parametric Parametric- see handout - Correct answer t- test for independent groups t-test for dependent groups Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Repeated measures ANOVA Pearson's r Nonparametric tests-see - Correct answer Chi-squared Mann-Whitney U-Test Kruskal-Wallas test Wilcoxon signed ranks test Friedman test Phi coefficient Spearman's rank-order correlation r Multivariate Statistics - Correct answer Statistical procedures for analyzing relationships among 3 or more variables Two commonly used procedures in nursing research: Multiple regression Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) SPSS - Correct answer most often used in Nursing Research. Stats for Bio Sciences SAS - Correct answer more purely mathematical Most Common Reported Statistics - Correct answer Descriptive statistics about sample and variables Analysis of group equivalency Statistics about the role of error Statistics to evaluate magnitude of effect Statistics to determine confidence level Nominal - Correct answer Categorical data / labels / no mathematical properties Ordinal - Correct answer Categorical data that are ranked Interval - Correct answer Data that are ranked with equal intervals

Ratio Data - Correct answer Interval level data that have a true zero Level of measurement - Correct answer A variable's _______________ determines what mathematic operations can be performed in a statistical analysis. Nominal Level of Measurement - Correct answer Lowest level of measurement Assigning numbers to categories Number assignment "labels" category but does not indicate order or magnitude. Example Gender has 2 categories 0 = Male 1 = Female One category is not higher or lower than another Number assigned is for labeling purposes only Ordinal Level of Measurement - Correct answer Second level of measurement Assigns numbers to categories but there is a rank order HOWEVER the exact differences between the categories cannot be determined. Example: Anxiety - Low (score < 20), Med (21-50), High (> 50) Higher score more anxiety Level of Education - 1 -4 years, higher number more education Interval Level of Measurement - Correct answer Rank order with specified distance between measures "real" numbers on a scale Provides more depth to data analysis. Can calculate a mean score Limitation: Does not have an absolute zero point. Difference between points makes sense but not a true ratio Example: Temperature. "0" does not mean absence of temperature. 80 degrees - 70 = 10degrees. Makes sense, but a ratio 40 degrees to 80 degrees not necessarily 2 X as hot Ratio Level of Measurement - Correct answer Highest level of measurement Data can be: Categorized Ranked Distance between points is specified A zero point can be identified. Age, weight, volume For purposes of data analysis interval & ratio are treated the same.