ERIC Number: EJ942266
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Oct
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0146-6216
EISSN: N/A
Ramsay-Curve Differential Item Functioning
Woods, Carol M.
Applied Psychological Measurement, v35 n7 p536-556 Oct 2011
Differential item functioning (DIF) occurs when an item on a test, questionnaire, or interview has different measurement properties for one group of people versus another, irrespective of true group-mean differences on the constructs being measured. This article is focused on item response theory based likelihood ratio testing for DIF (IRT-LR or IRT-LR-DIF). Historically, the models have been fitted assuming the latent variables for both reference and focal groups are normal, but this is unnecessary. A new variation, called Ramsay-curve DIF (RC-DIF), is introduced here. In RC-DIF, the latent density for both groups is estimated simultaneously with the item parameters. Similar approaches in which the density for only one group is estimated, or the densities are estimated as empirical histograms (EHs), are also studied. Free software is available from the author to test each item individually for DIF with the latent densities estimated as EHs or RCs. A simulation study shows that these methods improve results compared with assuming normality mistakenly, and an empirical example illustrates the procedures. (Contains 5 figures, 6 tables, and 1 note.)
Descriptors: Simulation, Item Response Theory, Testing, Questionnaires, Interviews, Computation, Multiple Regression Analysis, Evaluation Methods, Statistical Bias, Test Bias, Maximum Likelihood Statistics, Error of Measurement, Test Results, Computer Software
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: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A