Research and analysis

Ofqual's reliability research

Research to investigate the reliability and validity of results in national tests, public examinations and other qualifications in England.

• From: Ofqual
• Published: 19 October 2013

Applies to England

Documents

The causes of error in exam grades – public perceptions (Ipsos MORI, 2009)

PDF, 165 KB, 46 pages

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Classification Accuracy in Results from Key Stage 2 National Curriculum Tests (He, Hayes & Wiliam, 2011)

Ref: Ofqual/11/4830

PDF, 211 KB, 22 pages

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Estimation of internal reliability (Hayes & Pritchard, 2013)

Ref: Ofqual/13/5258

PDF, 1.13 MB, 48 pages

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Estimating the Reliability of Composite Scores (He, 2009)

Ref: Ofqual/10/4703

PDF, 188 KB, 39 pages

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Estimation of inter-rater reliability (Dhawan & Bramley, 2013)

Ref: Ofqual/13/5260

PDF, 1.13 MB, 40 pages

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The internal reliability of some City & Guilds tests (Boyle & Rahman, 2013)

Ref: Ofqual/13/5257

PDF, 1.53 MB, 97 pages

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Marker effects and examination reliability (Baird, Hayes, Johnson, Johnson & Lamprianou, 2013)

Ref: Ofqual/13/5261

PDF, 1.89 MB, 87 pages

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Public Perceptions of Unreliability in Examination Results in England: A New Perspective (He, Opposs & Boyle, 2010)

Ref: Ofqual/10/4769

PDF, 105 KB, 17 pages

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Reliability of Vocational Assessment: An evaluation of level 3 electro-technical qualifications (Johnson, Johnson, Miller & Boyle, 2013)

Ref: Ofqual/13/5259

PDF, 984 KB, 60 pages

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Reliability issues in competence-based assessment: concepts and estimates (Harth & Rijn, 2010)

PDF, 163 KB, 36 pages

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The Reliability of Results from National Curriculum Assessments, Public Examinations and Qualifications (Opposs & He, 2010)

Ref: Ofqual/10/4756

PDF, 326 KB, 34 pages

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A review of research into the reliability of examinations (Wilmut, Wood & Murphy, 1996)

PDF, 87.8 KB, 31 pages

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Variability in A level results: 2012 to 2015 (Ofqual, 2015)

Ref: Ofqual/15/5762

PDF, 693 KB, 14 pages

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Variability in GCSE Results for Individual Schools and Colleges (Ofqual, 2015)

Ref: Ofqual/15/5767

PDF, 1.33 MB, 31 pages

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What causes variability in school-level GCSE results year-on-year? (Ofqual, 2016)

Ref: Ofqual/16/5956

PDF, 1.69 MB, 53 pages

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Details

Reliability is a measure of the consistency of the results of qualifications and assessments. A reliable qualification would mean that a student would receive the same result if they took a different version of the exam, took the test on a different day, or if a different examiner had marked the paper.

You should also read Ofqual’s Reliability of assessment: compendium which gathers comprehensive research on this subject area into one list of documents.

Published 19 October 2013