In the human sciences, a common assumption is that latent traits have a hierarchical structure. Higher order item response theory models have been developed to account for this hierarchy. In this study, computerized adaptive testing (CAT) algorithms based on these kinds of models were implemented, and their performance under a variety of…

It is shown that deviations of estimated from true values of item difficulty parameters, caused for example by item calibration errors, the neglect of randomness of item difficulty parameters, testlet effects, or rule-based item generation, can lead to systematic bias in point estimation of person parameters in the context of adaptive testing.…

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is an active current research field in psychometrics and educational measurement. However, there is very little software available to handle such adaptive tasks. The R package "catR" was developed to perform adaptive testing with as much flexibility as possible, in an attempt to provide a developmental and…

This article reviews the use of the software program lp_solve version 5.5 for solving mixed-integer automated test assembly (ATA) problems. The program is freely available under Lesser General Public License 2 (LGPL2). It can be called from the statistical language R using the lpSolveAPI interface. Three empirical problems are presented to…

This article addresses two unsolved measurement issues in dynamic problem solving (DPS) research: (a) unsystematic construction of DPS tests making a comparison of results obtained in different studies difficult and (b) use of time-intensive single tasks leading to severe reliability problems. To solve these issues, the MicroDYN approach is…

This research explores the usefulness of latent growth curve modeling in the study of pacing behavior and test speededness. Examinee response times from a high-stakes, computerized examination, collected before and after the examination was subjected to a timing change, were analyzed using a series of latent growth curve models to detect…

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale is a well-known self-report instrument that is used to measure depressive symptomatology. Respondents who take the full-length version of the CES-D are administered a total of 20 items. This article investigates the use of curtailment and stochastic curtailment (SC), two sequential…

To date, exposure control procedures that are designed to control test overlap in computerized adaptive tests (CATs) are based on the assumption of item sharing between pairs of examinees. However, in practice, examinees may obtain test information from more than one previous test taker. This larger scope of information sharing needs to be…

This article refutes a recent claim that computer-based tests produce biased scores for very proficient test takers who make mistakes on one or two initial items and that the "bias" can be reduced by using a four-parameter IRT model. Because the same effect occurs with pattern scores on nonadaptive tests, the effect results from IRT scoring, not…

This article extends the work by Armstrong and Shi on CUmulative SUM (CUSUM) person-fit methodology. The authors present new theoretical considerations concerning the use of CUSUM person-fit statistics based on likelihood ratios for the purpose of detecting cheating and random guessing by individual test takers. According to the Neyman-Pearson…

In a selected response test, aberrant responses such as careless errors and lucky guesses might cause error in ability estimation because these responses do not actually reflect the knowledge that examinees possess. In a computerized adaptive test (CAT), these aberrant responses could further cause serious estimation error due to dynamic item…

Current interest in measuring quality of life is generating interest in the construction of computerized adaptive tests (CATs) with Likert-type items. Calibration of an item bank for use in CAT requires collecting responses to a large number of candidate items. However, the number is usually too large to administer to each subject in the…

This study examined the performance of the maximum Fisher's information, the maximum posterior weighted information, and the minimum expected posterior variance methods for selecting items in a computerized adaptive testing system when the items were grouped in testlets. A simulation study compared the efficiency of ability estimation among the…

In a typical study comparing the relative efficiency of two item selection rules in computerized adaptive testing, the common result is that they simultaneously differ in accuracy and security, making it difficult to reach a conclusion on which is the more appropriate rule. This study proposes a strategy to conduct a global comparison of two or…

This simulation study sought to compare four different computerized adaptive testing (CAT) content-balancing procedures designed for use in a multidimensional assessment with respect to measurement precision, symptom severity classification, validity of clinical diagnostic recommendations, and sensitivity to atypical responding. The four…