Introduction

Reliability is the overall consistency of a measure. Reliability is usually evaluated using Cronbach's α (alpha), a metric that reflects the consistency of results across items within a scale. In published assessments, a Cronbach's α of .7 is considered minimally acceptable, .8 is considered good, and .9 is considered excellent. Ideally, all scales on an assessment should have a Cronbach's α of .8 or higher. In real life, few assessments meet that goal.

All of CareerExplorer's scales have Cronbach's α above .8. The average reliability is .88, and the minimum is .82. This level of reliability suggests that CareerExplorer's assessment is suitable for use in both personal and high-stakes testing.

Full Results

Scale Sample # of Items α
Holland Codes
5-point scale from 1=Hate it to 5=Love it
Artistic 16 635 8 0.85
Conventional 16 770 6 0.87
Enterprising 14 418 10 0.84
Investigative 16 665 6 0.87
Realistic 16 664 6 0.86
Social 16 651 8 0.84
Work Styles / Personality
5-point scale from 1=Strongly disagree to 5=Strongly agree
Achievement/Effort 14 341 8 0.86
Adaptability/Flexibility 12 455 10 0.85
Analytical thinking 12 460 10 0.91
Attention to detail 14 307 8 0.88
Concern for others 12 443 10 0.87
Cooperation 12 495 12 0.86
Dependability 14 343 9 0.89
Impression management 2441 14 0.81
Independence 12 548 12 0.82
Initiative 11 844 10 0.85
Innovation 14 456 6 0.92
Integrity 14 324 6 0.83
Leadership 14 475 6 0.92
Persistence 14 324 10 0.88
Self control 14 364 9 0.89
Social orientation 14 307 7 0.88
Basic Interests
5-point scale from 1=Hate it to 5=Love it
Adventure 13 355 7 0.86
Athletics 13 347 5 0.87
Beauty & style 11 579 6 0.88
Business 13 393 5 0.90
Counseling and helping 11 661 6 0.88
Creative arts 13 353 5 0.90
Creative writing & journalism 11 643 5 0.90
Culinary arts 13 340 5 0.87
Engineering 13 396 5 0.87
Family activity 11 595 8 0.90
Finance 13 377 5 0.90
Green industry 11 625 6 0.92
Healthcare service 13 342 6 0.87
Human relations management 11 610 6 0.87
Information technology 13 431 5 0.90
Law 13 345 5 0.90
Life science 11 930 5 0.89
Management 13 339 6 0.86
Manual labor 13 343 6 0.84
Mathematics 11 654 5 0.93
Military 11 590 4 0.93
Nature and agriculture 10 230 11 0.89
Office clerical work 10 245 8 0.88
Performing arts 11 607 5 0.87
Personal service 10 243 11 0.88
Physical science 13 524 5 0.88
Politics 11 634 5 0.92
Professional advising 11 626 5 0.88
Protective services 11 621 8 0.89
Religion & spirituality 11 619 5 0.89
Sales 11 604 5 0.89
Skilled trades 13 367 5 0.88
Social sciences 13 404 5 0.86
Teaching 13 481 5 0.88
Technical writing 11 640 5 0.88
Working with animals 11 641 5 0.90