Why We Might Still be Concerned About Low Cronbach’s Alphas in Domain-specific Knowledge Tests

Abstract

Edelsbrunner et al. Educational Psychology Review,37, 1–43, 2025 recently published a systematic review and meta-analysis of Cronbach's alphas in domain-specific knowledge tests. While appreciating their analysis and agreeing with most findings, we disagree with three messages regarding the use of alpha in knowledge tests: (1) alpha measures the strength of interrelations among items, (2) a low alpha indicates validity, and (3) thresholds for alpha be abandoned. We discuss these messages in a constructive manner and present a way to counteract the inflation of seemingly high alphas in educational psychology.