Running head: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY 1
Exploring the Reliability and Validity of the Values and Motives Questionnaire (VMQ)
Student255641
Liberty University
RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY 2
One of the most critical mechanisms of any assessment is reliability/precision according
to Drummond, Sheperis, and Jones (2016). Reliability when denoting to measurement is the
dependability or consistency of a test in regards to the various forms of the test, scores across the
items of the test, and the frequent administration of the test (Drummond, Sheperis, & Jones,
2016). Reliability is generally inspected before validity as the reliability of test places a higher
perimeter on tests validity. Although, validity should never be disconnected from reliability.
Without validity, the reliability of an assessment is annulled. Basically, stated validity is defined
as the ability of a test to measure what is theoretical to be measured.
Reliability and Validity Used
Reliability refers to the degree to which psychometric properties of test scores are
dependable, consistent, and stable across items of a test, across different forms of the test, or
across repeat administrations of the test while reliability, also, measures the standard errors of
measurement (SEM) (Drummond, Sheperis, & Jones, 2016). The SEM measures the fluctuations
due to errors of repeatedly taking a test; it is the best estimate of the accuracy of observed scores
as related to their true score (Drummond, Sheperis, & Jones, 2016). The Values and Motives
Questionnaire (VMQ), also known as the Values and Motives Inventory (VMI), creators use
internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha) as their measurement. Internal consistency
reliability is "concerned with the interrelatedness of items within an instrument" (Drummond,
Sheperis, & Jones, 2016, p. 99). Internal consistency reliability centers its reliability on how each
item relates to each item and how well each item correlates to the overall scores. This form of
