Reliability is an important issue i

Reliability is an important issue in employee selection because it serves as a limiting constraint on validity If a measuring instrument is not reliable, it cannot be valid; unreliable information cannot be used to Predict performance on the job. 13 Unreliable data are essentially capricious random numbers that do not really measure anything. Reliability is typically indicated by a correlation coefficient, and correlations below 70 are generally considered unacceptable. Some of the major reasons why selection information may be unreliable include:1.The selection instrument may be ambiguous and unclear. For example, items on an application blank may not be specific, or questions in an interview may not be clear. Similarly, test questions that are ambiguous may lead to random responses that do not measure a consistent, repeatable personality characteristic.2.The person using the measuring instrument may not have a clear perception of the behavior being measured or a well-defined standard to use as a basis for making an evaluation.3.The behavior being evaluated may be an unstable phenomenon that changes from time to time, such as personal feelings, rather than a stable personality characteristic. Reliability is not the same as accuracy. The measuring instrument may be reliable and still not be accurate. For example, a cloth measuring tape may stretch over time and not provide an accurate measurement of length. However, the tape would still be a very reliable measuring instrument because it produces the same measurements time after time.