Handbook Of Item Response Theory

Item response theory has become an essential component in the toolkit of every researcher in the behavioral sciences. It provides a powerful means to study individual responses to a variety of stimuli, and the methodology has been extended and developed to cover many different models of interaction. This volume presents a wide-ranging handbook to item response theory - and its applications to educational and psychological testing. It will serve as both an introduction to the subject and also as a comprehensive reference volume for practitioners and researchers. It is organized into six major sections: the nominal categories model, models for response time or multiple attempts on items, models for multiple abilities or cognitive components, nonparametric models, models for nonmonotone items, and models with special assumptions. Each chapter in the book has been written by an expert of that particular topic, and the chapters have been carefully edited to ensure that a uniform style of notation and presentation is used throughout. As a result, all researchers whose work uses item response theory will find this an indispensable companion to their work and it will be the subject's reference volume for many years to come.

Item response theory (IRT) has moved beyond the confines of educational measurement into assessment domains such as personality, psychopathology, and patient-reported outcomes. Classic and emerging IRT methods and applications that are revolutionizing psychological measurement, particularly for health assessments used to demonstrate treatment effectiveness, are reviewed in this new volume. World renowned contributors present the latest research and methodologies about these models along with their applications and related challenges. Examples using real data, some from NIH-PROMIS, show how to apply these models in actual research situations. Chapters review fundamental issues of IRT, modern estimation methods, testing assumptions, evaluating fit, item banking, scoring in multidimensional models, and advanced IRT methods. New multidimensional models are provided along with suggestions for deciding among the family of IRT models available. Each chapter provides an introduction, describes state-of-the art research methods, demonstrates an application, and provides a summary. The book addresses the most critical IRT conceptual and statistical issues confronting researchers and advanced students in psychology, education, and medicine today. Although the chapters highlight health outcomes data the issues addressed are relevant to any content domain. The book addresses: IRT models applied to non-educational data especially patient reported outcomes Differences between cognitive and non-cognitive constructs and the challenges these bring to modeling. The application of multidimensional IRT models designed to capture typical performance data. Cutting-edge methods for deriving a single latent dimension from multidimensional data A new model designed for the measurement of constructs that are defined on one end of a continuum such as substance abuse Scoring individuals under different multidimensional IRT models and item banking for patient-reported health outcomes How to evaluate measurement invariance, diagnose problems with response categories, and assess growth and change. Part 1 reviews fundamental topics such as assumption testing, parameter estimation, and the assessment of model and person fit. New, emerging, and classic IRT models including modeling multidimensional data and the use of new IRT models in typical performance measurement contexts are examined in Part 2. Part 3 reviews the major applications of IRT models such as scoring, item banking for patient-reported health outcomes, evaluating measurement invariance, linking scales to a common metric, and measuring growth and change. The book concludes with a look at future IRT applications in health outcomes measurement. The book summarizes the latest advances and critiques foundational topics such a multidimensionality, assessment of fit, handling non-normality, as well as applied topics such as differential item functioning and multidimensional linking. Intended for researchers, advanced students, and practitioners in psychology, education, and medicine interested in applying IRT methods, this book also serves as a text in advanced graduate courses on IRT or measurement. Familiarity with factor analysis, latent variables, IRT, and basic measurement theory is assumed.

Drawing on the work of 75 internationally acclaimed experts in the field, this handbook presents all major item response models, classical and modern statistical tools used in (IRT), and major areas of applications of IRT in educational and psychological testing, medical diagnosis of patient-reported outcomes, and marketing research.

This comprehensive Handbook focuses on the most used polytomous item response theory (IRT) models. These models help us understand the interaction between examinees and test questions where the questions have various response categories. The book reviews all of the major models and includes discussions about how and where the models originated, conceptually and in practical terms. Diverse perspectives on how these models can best be evaluated are also provided. Practical applications provide a realistic account of the issues practitioners face using these models. Disparate elements of the book are linked through editorial sidebars that connect common ideas across chapters, compare and reconcile differences in terminology, and explain variations in mathematical notation. These sidebars help to demonstrate the commonalities that exist across the field. By assembling this critical information, the editors hope to inspire others to use polytomous IRT models in their own research so they too can achieve the type of improved measurement that such models can provide. Part 1 examines the most commonly used polytomous IRT models, major issues that cut across these models, and a common notation for calculating functions for each model. An introduction to IRT software is also provided. Part 2 features distinct approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of polytomous IRT models in various measurement contexts. These chapters appraise evaluation procedures and fit tests and demonstrate how to implement these procedures using IRT software. The final section features groundbreaking applications. Here the goal is to provide solutions to technical problems to allow for the most effective use of these models in measuring educational, psychological, and social science abilities and traits. This section also addresses the major issues encountered when using polytomous IRT models in computerized adaptive testing. Equating test scores across different testing contexts is the focus of the last chapter. The various contexts include personality research, motor performance, health and quality of life indicators, attitudes, and educational achievement. Featuring contributions from the leading authorities, this handbook will appeal to measurement researchers, practitioners, and students who want to apply polytomous IRT models to their own research. It will be of particular interest to education and psychology assessment specialists who develop and use tests and measures in their work, especially researchers in clinical, educational, personality, social, and health psychology. This book also serves as a supplementary text in graduate courses on educational measurement, psychometrics, or item response theory.

Drawing on the work of 75 internationally acclaimed experts in the field, Handbook of Item Response Theory, Three-Volume Set presents all major item response models, classical and modern statistical tools used in item response theory (IRT), and major areas of applications of IRT in educational and psychological testing, medical diagnosis of patient-reported outcomes, and marketing research. It also covers CRAN packages, WinBUGS, Bilog MG, Multilog, Parscale, IRTPRO, Mplus, GLLAMM, Latent Gold, and numerous other software tools. A full update of editor Wim J. van der Linden and Ronald K. Hambleton’s classic Handbook of Modern Item Response Theory, this handbook has been expanded from 28 chapters to 85 chapters in three volumes. The three volumes are thoroughly edited and cross-referenced, with uniform notation, format, and pedagogical principles across all chapters. Each chapter is self-contained and deals with the latest developments in IRT.

Drawing on the work of internationally acclaimed experts in the field, Handbook of Item Response Theory, Volume Two: Statistical Tools presents classical and modern statistical tools used in item response theory (IRT). While IRT heavily depends on the use of statistical tools for handling its models and applications, systematic introductions and reviews that emphasize their relevance to IRT are hardly found in the statistical literature. This second volume in a three-volume set fills this void. Volume Two covers common probability distributions, the issue of models with both intentional and nuisance parameters, the use of information criteria, methods for dealing with missing data, and model identification issues. It also addresses recent developments in parameter estimation and model fit and comparison, such as Bayesian approaches, specifically Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods.

Drawing on the work of internationally acclaimed experts in the field, Handbook of Item Response Theory, Volume 3: Applications presents applications of item response theory to practical testing problems. While item response theory may be known primarily for its advances in theoretical modeling of responses to test items, equal progress has been made in its providing innovative solutions to daily testing problems. This third volume in a three-volume set highlights the major applications. Specifically, this volume covers applications to test item calibration, item analysis, model fit checking, test-score interpretation, optimal test design, adaptive testing, standard setting, and forensic analyses of response data. It describes advances in testing in areas such as large-scale educational assessment, psychological testing, health measurement, and measurement of change. In addition, it extensively reviews computer programs available to run any of the models and applications in Volume One and Three. Features Includes contributions from internationally acclaimed experts with a history of advancing applications of item response theory Provides extensive cross-referencing and common notation across all chapters in this three-volume set Underscores the importance of treating each application in a statistically rigorous way Reviews major computer programs for item response theory analyses and applications. Wim J. van der Linden is a distinguished scientist and director of research and innovation at Pacific Metrics Corporation. Dr. van der Linden is also a professor emeritus of measurement and data analysis at the University of Twente. His research interests include test theory, adaptive testing, optimal test assembly, parameter linking, test equating, and response-time modeling as well as decision theory and its applications to problems of educational decision making.

Drawing on the work of internationally acclaimed experts in the field, Handbook of Item Response Theory, Volume One: Models presents all major item response models. This first volume in a three-volume set covers many model developments that have occurred in item response theory (IRT) during the last 20 years. It describes models for different response formats or response processes, the need of deeper parameterization due to a multilevel or hierarchical structure of the response data, and other extensions and insights. In Volume One, all chapters have a common format with each chapter focusing on one family of models or modeling approach. An introductory section in every chapter includes some history of the model and a motivation of its relevance. Subsequent sections present the model more formally, treat the estimation of its parameters, show how to evaluate its fit to empirical data, illustrate the use of the model through an empirical example, and discuss further applications and remaining research issues.