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Standardized Interviews in Psychiatry: Issues of Reliability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

R. W. Sanson-Fisher  and
C. J. Martin
R. W. Sanson-Fisher*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Newcastle University, New South Wales, Australia
C. J. Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, The University Hospital of South Manchester, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 8LR
*
∗Correspondence to the senior author who was an Australian NH and MRC Research Fellow when the paper was completed.
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Summary

A review of studies which used standardized interviews as a means of data collection indicated that the issue of reliability was frequently neglected in the psychiatric literature. It is suggested that this may be due to a misinterpretation of the concept of reliability which is apparently perceived as a permanent feature of an interview instrument. The importance of reliability is discussed, and recommendations are made as to how a methodologically adequate assessment of reliability might be undertaken.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 2 , August 1981 , pp. 138 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

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