Which statement about reliability in testing is true?

• A. Higher reliability means more measurement error.
• B. Reliability is about consistency of scores across items, time, or raters.
• C. Reliability guarantees validity.
• D. Reliability is the same as accuracy.

Answer: (B)

Reliability is about consistency of scores across items, across time, or across raters. When a measure is reliable, repeated administrations, or alternative items that tap the same construct, yield similar results, and different raters score responses in the same way. This reflects low measurement error, since random noise that can distort a score is minimized. Higher reliability means less measurement error, not more. Reliability does not guarantee validity—a test can be consistently off target, measuring something else despite its stability. And reliability is not the same as accuracy; accuracy concerns how close scores are to the true trait or criterion, while reliability concerns the consistency of those scores.