The study evaluated the effectiveness of log-linear presmoothing (Holland & Thayer, 1987) on the accuracy of small sample chained equipercentile equatings under two conditions (i.e., using small samples that differed randomly in ability from the target population "versus" using small samples that were distinctly different from the…

Estimation of parameters of random effects models from samples collected via complex multistage designs is considered. One way to reduce estimation bias due to unequal probabilities of selection is to incorporate sampling weights. Many researchers have been proposed various weighting methods (Korn, & Graubard, 2003; Pfeffermann, Skinner,…

This study examines the differences in equating outcomes between two trend score equating designs resulting from two different scoring strategies for trend scoring when operational constructed-response (CR) items are double-scored--the single group (SG) design, where each trend CR item is double-scored, and the nonequivalent groups with anchor…

This study compared the accuracies of four differential item functioning (DIF) estimation methods, where each method makes use of only one of the following: raw data, logistic regression, loglinear models, or kernel smoothing. The major focus was on the estimation strategies' potential for estimating score-level, conditional DIF. A secondary focus…

This report proposes an empirical Bayes approach to the problem of equating scores on test forms taken by very small numbers of test takers. The equated score is estimated separately at each score point, making it unnecessary to model either the score distribution or the equating transformation. Prior information comes from equatings of other…