The DOI matches its Crossref record; 41 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Your Coefficient Alpha Is Probably Wrong, but Which Coefficient Omega Is Right? A Tutorial on Using R to Obtain Better Reliability Estimates
Open accessAbstract
Measurement quality has recently been highlighted as an important concern for advancing a cumulative psychological science. An implication is that researchers should move beyond mechanistically reporting coefficient alpha toward more carefully assessing the internal structure and reliability of multi-item scales. Yet a researcher may be discouraged upon discovering that a prominent alternative to alpha, namely, coefficient omega, can be calculated in a variety of ways. In this Tutorial, I alleviate this potential confusion by describing alternative forms of omega and providing guidelines for choosing an appropriate omega estimate pertaining to the measurement of a target construct represented with a confirmatory factor analysis model. Several applied examples demonstrate how to compute different forms of omega in R.
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Cites
R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing
R Core Team (2025) · doi:10.32614/r.manuals · Cited by 352,181
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Cronbach, L. J. (1951) · Psychometrika · doi:10.1007/bf02310555 · Cited by 43,931
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Thanks coefficient alpha, we’ll take it from here.
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Cited by
Cheung, G. W., Cooper-Thomas, H. D., Lau, R. S., & Wang, L. C. (2024) · Asia Pacific Journal of Management · doi:10.1007/s10490-023-09871-y · Cited by 2,262
“This practice continues despite numerous notes of its misuse (Cortina, 1993; Flora, 2020; Schmitt, 1996; Sijtsma, 2009).”
Liekefett, L., Christ, O., & Becker, J. C. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672211060965 · Cited by 155
Students’ growth mindset: Relation to teacher beliefs, teaching practices, and school climate
Yu, J., Kreijkes, P., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2022) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101616 · Cited by 144
A Critical Evaluation of the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ)
Müller, S., Wendt, L. P., Spitzer, C., Masuhr, O., Back, S. N., & Zimmermann, J. (2022) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2021.1981346 · Cited by 138
Jin, R., Wu, R., Xia, Y., & Zhao, M. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1177415 · Cited by 33
Metadata
- Authors
- Flora, D. B.
- Venue
- Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-11-06
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 484-501
- ISSN
- 2515-2459 (ISSN-L)
- 2515-2467
- OpenAlex
- W3095583164
- Cited by
- 561
- References
- 41
- FWCI
- 38.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
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- Flora, D. B. (2020). Your Coefficient Alpha Is Probably Wrong, but Which Coefficient Omega Is Right? A Tutorial on Using R to Obtain Better Reliability Estimates. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245920951747
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