Abstract: | We show how to test hypotheses for coefficient alpha in three different situations: (1) hypothesis tests of whether coefficient
alpha equals a prespecified value, (2) hypothesis tests involving two statistically independent sample alphas as may arise
when testing the equality of coefficient alpha across groups, and (3) hypothesis tests involving two statistically dependent
sample alphas as may arise when testing the equality of alpha across time or when testing the equality of alpha for two test
scores within the same sample. We illustrate how these hypotheses may be tested in a structural equation-modeling framework
under the assumption of normally distributed responses and also under asymptotically distribution free assumptions. The formulas
for the hypothesis tests and computer code are given for four different applied examples. Supplemental materials for this
article may be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental. |