Estimating the Reliability of Interview Data

Abstract

A model for a score based on an interview is presented which identifies the effect due to the subject, to the manner in which the interviewer tends to conduct his interviews, to the criteria he tends to use in scoring subjects' responses, to the compromises he tends to adopt between the demands of interviewing and those of scoring, and to chance errors. A suggested experimental design calls for each of K investigators to interview a different sample of N subjects, but for all investigators to score each subject. The drawing of inferences when interest is only in the K participants in the reliability study is considered, and a numerical example is given.