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Coefficients Alpha, Beta, Omega, and the glb: Comments on Sijtsma

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Abstract

There are three fundamental problems in Sijtsma (Psychometrika, 2008): (1) contrary to the name, the glb is not the greatest lower bound of reliability but rather is systematically less than ω t (McDonald, Test theory: A unified treatment, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 1999), (2) we agree with Sijtsma that when considering how well a test measures one concept, α is not appropriate, but recommend ω t rather than the glb, and (3) the end user needs procedures that are readily available in open source software.

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Correspondence to William Revelle.

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Revelle, W., Zinbarg, R.E. Coefficients Alpha, Beta, Omega, and the glb: Comments on Sijtsma. Psychometrika 74, 145–154 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-008-9102-z

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