Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Biostatistics

.: ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Cronbach Alfa Katsayısının Hipotez Testinde Bayesci Metaanalizi: Metodolojik Araştırma
Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient in Hypothesis Testing: A Methodological Research
Esin AVCIa
aGiresun Üniversitesi Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, İstatistik Bölümü, Giresun, Türkiye
Turkiye Klinikleri J Biostat. 2022;14(3):180-9
doi: 10.5336/biostatic.2022-88576
Article Language: TR
Full Text
ÖZET
 Amaç: Sağlık ve sosyal bilimlerde sıklıkla kullanılan ölçeklerin güvenirlilik testlerinde Cronbach alfa katsayısı en çok raporlanan güvenilirlik katsayısıdır. Aynı ölçeği ele alan birbirinden bağımsız çalışmaların Cronbach alfa katsayılarının istatistiksel bir yöntem olan metaanalizi ile birleştirilmesi, ölçeğin güvenirliliği hakkında tek bir çalışmanın sonucundan daha fazla güçlü sonuçlar vermesini sağlar. Güvenilirlik katsayısının metaanalizinde; tahmin değerinin yanı sıra ''Bir ölçeğin Cronbach alfa katsayısının belirli bir değerden büyüktür'' gibi hipotezler test edilmek istenebilir. Bu çalışmada, Bayesci metaanalizinden yararlanarak kurulan hipotezlerin doğrudan test edilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Bu çalışmada, Cronbach alfa katsayısının Bayesci metaanalizinde kilit rol oynayan önsel dağılımlar seçilmiştir. Sırasıyla bilgilendirici olmayan ve daha önceki çalışmalardan elde edilen yüzdelikler yardımıyla bilgilendirici önsel dağılım tanımlanmış ve Bayesci metaanalizi uygulanmıştır. Cronbach alfa katsayısı için hipotezler Bayes faktöründen yararlanılarak test edilmiştir. Uygulamada obsesif kompulsif bozukluklar için 20 soru ve 4 alt bölümden oluşan ''Boyutsal Obsesif Kompulsif Bozukluk Ölçeği'' ölçeğini ele alan 72 çalışmadan derlenen veriler kullanılmış ve ''Bu ölçeğin Cronbach alfa katsayı değeri 0,9'dan büyüktür'' hipotezi test edilmiştir. Bulgular: Her iki önsel için Cronbach alfa katsayısının Bayesci metaanalizinden elde edilen tahmin değeri 0,92 ve %95 güvenirlik aralığı (0,91- 0,94) şeklinde elde edilmiştir. Bayes faktörünün bilgilendirici önsel için bilgilendirici olmayan önselden daha büyük olduğu ve her iki önsel için hipotezin çok güçlü bir şeklide kabul edildiği saptanmıştır. Sonuç: Cronbach alfa katsayısı için test edilen hipotezlerin, Bayesci metaanalizle elde edilen sonuçlarının en önemli avantajı, daha geniş hacimli örneklem ve daha önceki çalışmalardan elde edilen bilgilerin önsel dağılımla dâhil edilerek daha güçlü bir şekilde karara bağlandığının görülmesidir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Cronbach alfa katsayısı; Bayes; metaanalizi; hipotez testi; Bayes faktörü
ABSTRACT
 Objective: The Cronbach's alpha coefficient is the most reported reliability coefficient for scales that are frequently used in health and social sciences. Combining the Cronbach's alpha coefficients dealing with the same scale from the independent studies with a statistical method, meta-analysis provides stronger results about the reliability of the scale than the result of a single study. In the meta-analysis of the reliability coefficient, besides estimating the coefficient, it may be desirable to test hypotheses such as 'the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of a scale is greater than a certain value'. This study aimed to directly test the hypotheses by using Bayesian meta-analysis. Material and Methods: In this study, prior distributions that play a key role in the Bayesian meta-analysis of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient were selected. An informative prior distribution that was determined with the help of percentages obtained from previous studies and non-informative prior distribution is considered respectively and Bayesian meta-analysis was applied. The hypotheses for the Cronbach's alpha coefficient were tested using the Bayes factor. In application, data collected from 72 studies dealing with the 'Dimensional Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Scale' consisting of 20 questions and 4 subsections for obsessive-compulsive disorders were used and the hypothesis that 'The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this scale is greater than 0.9' was tested. Results: For both priors, the estimated value of Cronbach's alpha coefficient obtained via the Bayesian meta-analysis was 0.92 and the 95% credible interval (0.91-0.94). It was found that the Bayes factor was greater for the informative prior than for the noninformative prior, and the hypothesis was strongly accepted for both priors. Conclusion: The most important advantage of the results obtained by Bayesian meta-analysis of the hypotheses tested for the Cronbach's alpha coefficient is that it appears to be more strongly decided by the larger sample size and the inclusion of information obtained from previous studies with a priori distribution.

Keywords: Cronbach's alpha coefficient; Bayes; meta-analysis; hypothesis testing; Bayes factor
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