Evaluating scale comparability in international large-scale assessments depends on measurement invariance (MI). The root mean square deviation (RMSD) is a standard method for establishing MI in several programs, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies.…

This study investigates the impact of violating the local item independence assumption by loading certain items onto a second dimension on test equating errors in unidimensional and dichotomous tests. The research was designed as a simulation study, using data generated based on the PISA 2018 mathematics exam. Analyses were conducted under 36…

Applying a measurement instrument developed in a specific country to other countries raise a critical and important question of interest in especially cross-cultural studies. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is the most preferred and used method to examine the cross-cultural applicability of measurement tools. Although CFA is a sophisticated…

Secondary analyses of international large-scale assessments (ILSA) commonly characterize relationships between variables of interest using correlations. However, the accuracy of correlation estimates is impaired by artefacts such as measurement error and clustering. Despite advancements in methodology, conventional correlation estimates or…

When there are no personal consequences associated with test performance for examinees, rapid guessing (RG) is a concern and can differ between subgroups. To date, the impact of differential RG on item-level measurement invariance has received minimal attention. To that end, a simulation study was conducted to examine the robustness of the…

The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has become one of the key studies for evidence-based education policymaking across the globe. PISA has however received a lot of methodological criticism, including how the test scores are created. The aim of this paper is to investigate the so-called 'conditioning model', where…

Although the root-mean squared deviation (RMSD) is a popular statistical measure for evaluating country-specific item-level misfit (i.e., differential item functioning [DIF]) in international large-scale assessment, this paper shows that its sensitivity to detect misfit may depend strongly on the proficiency distribution of the considered…

The aim of the present study was to examine the measurement invariance (MI) of the reading, mathematics, and science tests in terms of the commonly used languages. It also aimed to examine the differential item functioning (DIF) of the PISA test, the original items of which are in the languages of English and French, in terms of the language…

Trend estimation in international comparative large-scale assessments relies on measurement invariance between countries. However, cross-national differential item functioning (DIF) has been repeatedly documented. We ran a simulation study using national item parameters, which required trends to be computed separately for each country, to compare…

Traditional estimators of item response theory scale scores ignore uncertainty carried over from the item calibration process, which can lead to incorrect estimates of the standard errors of measurement (SEMs). Here, the authors review a variety of approaches that have been applied to this problem and compare them on the basis of their statistical…

The use of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) across nations, cultures, and languages has been criticized. The key criticisms point to the linguistic and cultural biases potentially underlying the design of reading comprehension tests, raising doubts about the legitimacy of comparisons across economies. Our research focused…