ERIC Number: EJ954591
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1529-7713
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Exploring Differential Item Functioning (DIF) with the Rasch Model: A Comparison of Gender Differences on Eighth Grade Science Items in the United States and Spain
Babiar, Tasha Calvert
Journal of Applied Measurement, v12 n2 p144-164 Sum 2011
Traditionally, women and minorities have not been fully represented in science and engineering. Numerous studies have attributed these differences to gaps in science achievement as measured by various standardized tests. Rather than describe mean group differences in science achievement across multiple cultures, this study focused on an in-depth item-level analysis across two countries: Spain and the United States. This study investigated eighth-grade gender differences on science items across the two countries. A secondary purpose of the study was to explore the nature of gender differences using the many-faceted Rasch Model as a way to estimate gender DIF. A secondary analysis of data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) was used to address three questions: 1) Does gender DIF in science achievement exist? 2) Is there a relationship between gender DIF and characteristics of the science items? 3) Do the relationships between item characteristics and gender DIF in science items replicate across countries. Participants included 7,087 eight grade students from the United States and 3,855 students from Spain who participated in TIMSS. The Facets program (Linacre and Wright, 1992) was used to estimate gender DIF. The results of the analysis indicate that the content of the item seemed to be related to gender DIF. The analysis also suggests that there is a relationship between gender DIF and item format. No pattern of gender DIF related to cognitive demand was found. The general pattern of gender DIF was similar across the two countries used in the analysis. The strength of item-level analysis as opposed to group mean difference analysis is that gender differences can be detected at the item level, even when no mean differences can be detected at the group level.
Descriptors: Test Bias, Science Achievement, Standardized Tests, Grade 8, Gender Differences, Test Items, Test Format, Difficulty Level, Comparative Analysis, Foreign Countries
JAM Press. P.O. Box 1283, Maple Grove, MN 55311. e-mail: info@jampress.org; Web site: http://www.jampress.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain; United States
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A