___________________________Data Analyses Using SPSS______________________

CHECKING THE RELIABILITY OF A SCALE

When you are selecting scales to include in your study it is important to find scales that
are reliable. There are a number of different aspects to reliability. One of the main issues
concerns the scales internal consistency. One of the most commonly used indicators of
internal consistency is Cronbachs alpha coefficient. Ideally, the Chronbach alpha
coefficient of a scale should above 0.7. Cronbanch alpha value are however, quite
sensitive to the number of items in the scale. The reliability of scale can vary depending
on the sample that it is used with. It is therefore necessary to check that each of your
scales is reliable with your particular sample.

Procedure for Checking The Reliability of a Scale

Important: Before starting, you should check that all negatively worded items in your
scale have been reversed. If you dont do this you will find you have very low Cronbach
alpha value.
1. Find the menu at the top of the screen Click on: Analyze, then click on Scale,
then Reliability Analysis.
2. Click on all of the individual items that make up the scale.
3. In the Model section, make sure Alpha is selected.
4. Click on the Statistic button. In the Descriptive for section click on Item, Scale,
Scale if item deleted and Covariances.
5. Click on Continue and then Ok.

_________________________________________________________Dr.J.b.A.: Aspirasi Optima Sdn. Bhd.__

___________________________Data Analyses Using SPSS______________________

The output generated from this procedure is shown below

Item Statistics
Mean
Std. Deviation
N
4.45
.622
Scale
Scale
3.93 Mean if
.861
Item Deleted
Variance if
4.25
.704 Deleted
Item
4.55
.565
17.20
4.298
4.47
.566
17.72
3.969

b01
b02
b03
b04
b05

b01
b02

60
60Corrected
Item-Total
60Correlation
60
.652
60
.483

Squared
Multiple
Correlation
.431
.317

Cronbach's
Alpha if Item
Deleted
.751
.822

b03

17.40

3.905

.707

.514

.729

b04

17.10

4.431

.680

.542

.748

b05

17.18

4.762

.519

.412

.789

Item-Total Statistics

1.
2.
Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha
.805

Cronbach's Alpha
Based on
Standardized Items
.821

N of Items
5

Interpreting the Output from Reliability

The first thing you should do is to check that the number of items is correct.
Also check that the mean score is what you would expect from the range of
possible scores. Errors in recording a variable can result in major problem
here.
In term of reliability the most important figure is the Alpha value. This is
Cronbanchs alpha coefficient, which, in this case, is .805. This value is above
.7, so the scale can be considered reliable with our sample.
The other information of interest is the column marked Corrected Item-Total
Correlation. These figures give you an indication of the degree to which
each item correlate with the total score. Low values (less than .3) here
indicate that the item is measuring something different to the scale as a
whole. If your scales overall Cronbach alpha is too low (e.g., less than .7)
you may need to consider removing items with low item-total correlations. In
the column headed Alpha If Item Deleted the impact of removing each item
from the scale is given. Compare these values with the final alpha value
obtained. If any of the values in this column are higher than the final alpha
value then you may want to consider removing this item from the scale.

_________________________________________________________Dr.J.b.A.: Aspirasi Optima Sdn. Bhd.__

___________________________Data Analyses Using SPSS______________________

_________________________________________________________Dr.J.b.A.: Aspirasi Optima Sdn. Bhd.__