Reliability and Validity Paper
Liberty University
Exploring Reliability and Validity
When counselors need to assess clients, it becomes necessary to use a quantifiable mans to measure some aspect of the client. Generally, an instrument is chosen to collect measurements for a specific reason. Once the assessment is completed, those individuals who are qualified to interpret the data analyze the resulting score and provide it to the client. Counselors must use a great deal of caution with any instrument. They should know precisely how the results were calculated, how to interpret those results, and the strengths and limitations of the instrument used. This paper will examine the reliability and validity of the instrument called the Values and Motives Questionnaire (VMQ). The VMQ’s variables are divided into three categories: Interpersonal - which focus’s on relations with others, extrinsic - which focus’s on motivating factors at work, and intrinsic - which relates to personal beliefs and attitudes.
Reliability and Validity Within the VMI
Two areas of great importance are reliability and validity. Reliability, according to Whiston (2012), examines the dependability of the scores while measuring and accounting for standard error of measurement (SEM) within the instrument. This aspect must be considered since the SEM is the hypothesis of what a client’s scores would be should the client take the test on more than one occasion (Whiston, 2013). The authors initially discussed two measures of reliability. The first was with the Cronbach’s alpha or the coefficient alpha and the second was the stability of the scale scores. The developers of the Values and Motives Questionnaire (VMQ) used the Cronbach’s alpha as a measure for internal consistency to identify how well the variables (items) measure individual interpersonal values and motives. As such, the coefficients were analyzed to provide evidence of the level of...