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ERIC Number: EJ1019118
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Apr
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1644
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Estimation of a Ramsay-Curve Item Response Theory Model by the Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro Algorithm
Monroe, Scott; Cai, Li
Educational and Psychological Measurement, v74 n2 p343-369 Apr 2014
In Ramsay curve item response theory (RC-IRT) modeling, the shape of the latent trait distribution is estimated simultaneously with the item parameters. In its original implementation, RC-IRT is estimated via Bock and Aitkin's EM algorithm, which yields maximum marginal likelihood estimates. This method, however, does not produce the parameter covariance matrix as an automatic byproduct on convergence. In turn, researchers are limited in when they can employ RC-IRT, as the covariance matrix is needed for many statistical inference procedures. The present research remedies this problem by estimating the RC-IRT model parameters by the Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro (MH-RM) algorithm. An attractive feature of MH-RM is that the structure of the algorithm makes estimation of the covariance matrix convenient. Additionally, MH-RM is ideally suited for multidimensional IRT, whereas EM is limited by the "curse of dimensionality." Based on the current research, when RC-IRT or similar IRT models are eventually generalized to include multiple latent dimensions, MH-RM would appear to be the logical choice for estimation.
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
Author Affiliations: N/A