Reliability of hand preference items and factors

Abstract

The present study examined the test-retest reliability of a 32-item version of the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire (Steenhuis&Bryden, 1987, 1988, 1989) on 500 subjects. The questionnaire was shown to be reliable in terms of basic factor structure. High test-retest reliability was also found within subjects' responses and across items for both right-handers and left-handers, although left-handers were less consistent than right-handers, particularly with regard to direction of hand preference on individual questionnaire items. Furthermore, the direction of hand preference was more reliable than was the degree of hand preference. These data support a multidimensional view of hand preference in which both direction and degree can be reliably assessed.