The Multidimensionality of Person Reliability: Implications for Interpreting Individual Test Item Responses

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Abstract
Person reliability concerns the response consistency of a single respondent to a number of psychological tests or test items. This study investigated various coefficients of person reliability, including both measures of within- and between-occasion consistency. Using a one-month test-retest interval, 123 undergraduates completed a 12-scale, 240-item, true-false inventory measuring various dimensions of psychopathology. Six consistency measures were calculated for each respondent: two within-occasion person reliability indices for each testing, a between-occasion person reliability index, and an item consistency measure involving a count of corresponding items answered identically on both occasions. Results implied that person reliability may be a multidimensional concept and that certain item consistency measures are confounded with psychopathology. Other consistency indices, however, tend to be independent of psychopathology. Clinical implications are discussed.

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