Computerized adaptive testing is subject to security problems, as the item bank content remains operative over long periods and administration time is flexible for examinees. Spreading the content of a part of the item bank could lead to an overestimation of the examinees' trait level. The most common way of reducing this risk is to impose a…

Omitted items cannot properly be treated as wrong when estimating ability and item parameters. A convenient method for utilizing the information provided by omissions is presented. Some theoretical and considerable empirical justification is adduced for the estimates obtained by both old and new methods. (Author)

A probabilistic choice model, based on L. L. Thurstone's Law of Comparative Judgment Case V, is developed for paired comparisons data about psychological stimuli. The model assumes that each stimulus is measured on a small number of physical variables. An algorithm for estimating parameters is illustrated with real data. (SLD)

This paper provides a method for analyzing data consisting of event sequences and covariate observations associated with Markov chains. The objective is to use the covariate data to explain differences between individuals in the transition probability matrices characterizing their sequential data. (TJH)

A probabilistic item response theory (IRT) model is developed for pair-comparison design in which the unfolding principle governing the choice process uses a discriminant process analogous to Thurstone's Law of Comparative Judgment. A simulation study demonstrates the feasibility of estimation, and two examples illustrate the implications for…

This document contains three papers from the Methodology Project of the Center for the Study of Evaluation. Methods for characterizing test accuracy are reported in the first two papers. "Bounds on the K Out of N Reliability of a Test, and an Exact Test for Hierarchically Related Items" describes and illustrates how an extension of a…

The psychometric research done by G. Rasch between 1951 and 1959, which is explained and illustrated in this book, takes psychometrics from being purely descriptive to being a science of objective measurement. Individual centered statistics require models in which each individual is characterized separately and from which, given adequate data,…

The assumptions of the Criterion-Referenced Test (CRT) model proposed by Kriewall are compared to those of Emrick and Adam's Mastery-Learning (ML) model. Testing, in the context of instructional management, serves three general purposes: performance evaluation (achievement of objectives), placement (classification of students for instruction), and…

Summarizing work which is part of an Army research program on Methodological Issues in the Construction of Criterion Referenced Tests, the focus of this paper is on a Bayesian model, which gives the probability of correctly classifying an examiner as a master or as a nonmaster while taking into consideration the test length and the mastery cut-off…

The Mastery-Learning test model is extended. Methods for estimating prior probabilities are described. The use of an adjustment matrix to transform a probability of mastery measure and empirical methods for estimating adjustment matrix parameters are derived. Adjustment matrices are interpreted as indicators of instructional effectiveness and as…

Some stochastic approximation procedures are considered in relation to the problem of choosing a sequence of test questions to accurately estimate a given examinee's standing on a psychological dimension. Illustrations are given evaluating certain procedures in a specific context. (Author/CK)

An elementary survey of item characteristic curve theory, centered around the problems of individualized (tailored) testing, is presented. Following the introduction, discussions are provided of the following: Test Theory for Itemized Tests; The Guttman Scale; Item Characteristic Curve Theory; An Alternative Model; Specialization, Application, and…