A Level Psychology OCR Practice Exam

In Ainsworth and Bell's research, one key measure of data reliability was inter-rater reliability. This concept refers to the degree of agreement among independent observers or raters who assess the same phenomenon. In the context of Ainsworth's Strange Situation, inter-rater reliability is particularly important because it ensures that different observers can consistently categorize the attachment styles of children in a similar way. High inter-rater reliability indicates that the coding scheme used to label attachment behaviors is effective and that the results are trustworthy and replicable. This enhances the credibility of the study's findings about attachment styles, contributing to the overall robustness of the research.