Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to submit your manuscript to SPPS

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
The Counseling Psychologist
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (22)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Helms, J. E.
Right arrow Articles by Mifsud, V. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Treating Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficients as Data in Counseling Research

Janet E. Helms

Boston College, helmsja{at}bc.edu

Kevin T. Henze

Boston College

Terry L. Sass

Boston College

Venus A. Mifsud

Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Scientific associations and measurement experts in psychology and education have voiced various standards and best-practice recommendations concerning reliability data over the years. Yet in the counseling psychology literature, there is virtually no single-source compilation and articulation of good practices for reporting, analyzing, and interpreting reliability to guide applied researchers intending to use scales rather than develop them. Therefore, focusing on Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency reliability estimates, this article (a) defines and provides rationales for seven broad categories of good practices for reporting, analyzing, interpreting, and using reliability data and (b) illustrates some pragmatic strategies for implementing the good practices with respect to reliability data in quantitative studies involving already-developed scales. The authors’ recommendations for good rather than best practices acknowledge that additional or alternative practices may be required when scale development is the researcher’s focus. The authors summarize their good practices in tabular form.

The Counseling Psychologist, Vol. 34, No. 5, 630-660 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0011000006288308
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Hispanic Journal of Behavioral SciencesHome page
R. T. Carter, C. J. Yeh, and S. L. Mazzula
Cultural Values and Racial Identity Statuses Among Latino Students: An Exploratory Investigation
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, February 1, 2008; 30(1): 5 - 23.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
R. T. Carter
Looking Back Across the Bridge From the Future to the Past: Accomplishments and Disappointments as Editor of The Counseling Psychologist
The Counseling Psychologist, November 1, 2007; 35(6): 757 - 762.
[PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
S. L. Morrow
Qualitative Research in Counseling Psychology: Conceptual Foundations
The Counseling Psychologist, March 1, 2007; 35(2): 209 - 235.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
B. E. Haverkamp and R. A. Young
Paradigms, Purpose, and the Role of the Literature: Formulating a Rationale for Qualitative Investigations
The Counseling Psychologist, March 1, 2007; 35(2): 265 - 294.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
W. T. Hoyt, R. E. Warbasse, and E. Y. Chu
Construct Validation in Counseling Psychology Research
The Counseling Psychologist, November 1, 2006; 34(6): 769 - 805.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
R. L. Worthington and T. A. Whittaker
Scale Development Research: A Content Analysis and Recommendations for Best Practices
The Counseling Psychologist, November 1, 2006; 34(6): 806 - 838.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
S. M. Quintana and T. Minami
Guidelines for Meta-Analyses of Counseling Psychology Research
The Counseling Psychologist, November 1, 2006; 34(6): 839 - 877.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
M. P. Martens and R. F. Haase
Advanced Applications of Structural Equation Modeling in Counseling Psychology Research
The Counseling Psychologist, November 1, 2006; 34(6): 878 - 911.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
R. K. Henson
Effect-Size Measures and Meta-Analytic Thinking in Counseling Psychology Research
The Counseling Psychologist, September 1, 2006; 34(5): 601 - 629.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
A. Sherry
Discriminant Analysis in Counseling Psychology Research
The Counseling Psychologist, September 1, 2006; 34(5): 661 - 683.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
J. H. Kahn
Factor Analysis in Counseling Psychology Research, Training, and Practice: Principles, Advances, and Applications
The Counseling Psychologist, September 1, 2006; 34(5): 684 - 718.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Counseling PsychologistHome page
R. Weston and P. A. Gore Jr.
A Brief Guide to Structural Equation Modeling
The Counseling Psychologist, September 1, 2006; 34(5): 719 - 751.
[Abstract] [PDF]