ERIC Number: EJ968056
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jun
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0146-6216
EISSN: N/A
Weighted Maximum-a-Posteriori Estimation in Tests Composed of Dichotomous and Polytomous Items
Sun, Shan-Shan; Tao, Jian; Chang, Hua-Hua; Shi, Ning-Zhong
Applied Psychological Measurement, v36 n4 p271-290 Jun 2012
For mixed-type tests composed of dichotomous and polytomous items, polytomous items often yield more information than dichotomous items. To reflect the difference between the two types of items and to improve the precision of ability estimation, an adaptive weighted maximum-a-posteriori (WMAP) estimation is proposed. To evaluate the performance of WMAP, a Monte Carlo simulation comparison is presented with maximum likelihood estimation, maximum-a-posteriori estimation, and Jeffreys modal estimation. Simulation results show that the proposed method is much less biased than any of the other estimators, with relatively smaller standard errors and root mean square errors. (Contains 9 figures and 3 tables.)
Descriptors: Monte Carlo Methods, Computation, Item Response Theory, Weighted Scores, Models, Test Items, Bayesian Statistics, Statistical Bias
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A