The reality of using coefficient Alpha to estimate reliability coefficient in the Arabic Psychological studies

Abstract

This study aimed at clarifying the most important assumptions of the coefficient alpha and the consequences of its violation, in addition examining some of the Arabic studies (master thesis and doctoral dissertations) to find out the extent of the researcher's realization of these assumptions and if they took them into account in their estimation of coefficient alpha. The study sample consisted of 116 studies (74 master theses,42 doctoral dissertations) in psychology from nine Arab countries. The results showed that 14 studies in which factor analysis was used but none of the studies verified the assumptions of the coefficient alpha before using it to estimate the reliability of the test scores used.