What Is the Appropriate Way to Assess the Internal Consistency

question 27

Essay

What is the appropriate way to assess the internal consistency of a multi-item scale with sets of items designed to measure different aspects of a multi-dimensional construct?

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Definitions:

Normally Distributed

Describes a data set that follows a bell-shaped curve where most observations cluster around the mean and probabilities for values taper off symmetrically towards both extremes.

Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values, indicating how much the values in the set differ from the mean.

Random Samples

A sample from a population that is chosen in such a way that every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

Standard Error

The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of a statistic, particularly mean, indicating the variability of an estimate from sample to sample.