Drawing on recently developed methodology for structural equation modeling with categorical data, this article proposes a new approach for investigating the behavior of dichotomously scored test items in relation to other relevant (observed) variables. A linear structural model relates the latent ability variable to a set of observed scores.…

This report describes a statistically designed experiment that was carried out in an operational setting to determine the contributions of different sources of variation to the unreliability of scoring. The experiment made novel use of partially balanced incomplete block designs that facilitated the unbiased estimation of certain main effects…

Advantages and disadvantages of joint maximum likelihood, marginal maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods of parameter estimation in item response theory are discussed and compared. (Author)

This study compared five density estimation techniques applied to samples from a population of 272,244 examinees' ACT English Usage and Mathematics Usage raw scores. Unsmoothed frequencies, kernel method, negative hypergeometric, four-parameter beta compound binomial, and Cureton-Tukey methods were applied to 500 replications of random samples of…

Though item bias statistics are widely recommended for use in test development and analysis, problems arise in their interpretation. This research evaluates logistic test models and computer simulation methods for providing a frame of reference for interpreting item bias statistics. Specifically, the intent was to produce simulated sampling…

The work presented in this paper defined conceptually the concepts of multidimensional discrimination and information, derived mathematical expressions for the concepts for a particular multidimensional item response theory (IRT) model, and applied the concepts to actual test data. Multidimensional discrimination was defined as a function of the…