Ken Fujimoto : Introduction to Item Response Theory and Differential Item Functioning II

Posted by Ryan Martin , part of the Graduate Statistics Seminar.

At

April 15, 2014, 3:30 p.m.

In

SEO 636

Abstract

Item response theory (IRT) models are useful measurement tools to examine whether an item's difficulty level is the same across subgroups of examinees (e.g., gender and race). This concept has to do with whether an item is "fair" for all subgroups of examinees. I will discuss how to test whether an item is "fair," or whether it displays differential item functioning (DIF) across subgroups of examinees when the subgroup membership is known. I will then discuss extensions to the traditional IRT model that allows for the detection of whether an item displays DIF across latent subgroups of examinees. These IRT extensions incorporate finite-mixture and infinite-mixture modeling.