What term describes the consistency of a test over time?

The term that describes the consistency of a test over time is reliability. This concept refers to the degree to which a test produces stable and consistent results across different occasions. For example, if a student takes the same test multiple times and receives similar scores each time, the test is considered reliable. Reliability is essential for psychological assessments because it ensures that the results are dependable and can be reproduced, which is crucial for measuring constructs like intelligence, personality, or mental health accurately.

In contrast to reliability, validity pertains to how well a test measures what it purports to measure, while standardization involves administering the test under consistent conditions to ensure comparability of results. Bias refers to any systematic error that might affect the test results, thereby impacting fairness and equity. Understanding these distinctions is fundamental in the field of psychological testing and assessment.