Differential Item Functioning

Test fairness is a moral imperative for both the makers and the users of tests. This book focuses on methods for detecting test items that function differently for different groups of examinees and on using this information to improve tests. Of interest to all testing and measurement specialists, it examines modern techniques used routinely to insure test fairness. Three of these relevant to the book's contents are: * detailed reviews of test items by subject matter experts and members of the major subgroups in society (gender, ethnic, and linguistic) that will be represented in the examinee population * comparisons of the predictive validity of the test done separately for each one of the major subgroups of examinees * extensive statistical analyses of the relative performance of major subgroups of examinees on individual test items.

This new edition presents an up-to-date description of differential item functioning. It describes varying procedures for addressing DIF in practical testing contexts. The authors present useful examples and studies of DIF that readers may employ as a guide in their own work. They also cover major statistical packages that can be employed in DIF analysis (e.g., SPSS, SAS, M+, Minitab, and Systat). This text is ideal for the measurement professional or advanced student who deals with educational or psychological assessment.

The aim of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive reference work on scientific and other scholarly research on the quality of life, including health-related quality of life research or also called patient-reported outcomes research. Since the 1960s two overlapping but fairly distinct research communities and traditions have developed concerning ideas about the quality of life, individually and collectively, one with a fairly narrow focus on health-related issues and one with a quite broad focus. In many ways, the central issues of these fields have roots extending to the observations and speculations of ancient philosophers, creating a continuous exploration by diverse explorers in diverse historic and cultural circumstances over several centuries of the qualities of human existence. What we have not had so far is a single, multidimensional reference work connecting the most salient and important contributions to the relevant fields. Entries are organized alphabetically and cover basic concepts, relatively well established facts, lawlike and causal relations, theories, methods, standardized tests, biographic entries on significant figures, organizational profiles, indicators and indexes of qualities of individuals and of communities of diverse sizes, including rural areas, towns, cities, counties, provinces, states, regions, countries and groups of countries.

Differential Item Functioning, Second Edition is a revision of the 1983 title Test Item Bias. In the past 23 years, differential item performance has assumed a level of attention unimagined in the early 1980s. Then, only a few tests and assessment programs attended to "item bias," while doing so is now a mandatory step in any responsible assessment program. Also, technical advances, such as the widespread use of item response theory, have pushed the field of differential performance to levels of technical sophistication far beyond what was practiced years ago. This new edition presents an up-to-date description of DIF; describes varying procedures for addressing DIF in practical testing contexts; presents useful examples and studies of DIF that readers may employ as a guide in their own DIF work; and briefly describes relevant features of major statistical packages that can be employed in DIF analysis (e.g., SPSS, SAS, M+, Minitab, and Systat). This text is ideal for the measurement professional or advanced student who deals with educational or psychological assessment. Readers need only have a preliminary background in tests and measurement, including some beginning statistics and elementary algebra, in order to find this volume useful.

Test fairness is a moral imperative for both the makers and the users of tests. This book focuses on methods for detecting test items that function differently for different groups of examinees and on using this information to improve tests. Of interest to all testing and measurement specialists, it examines modern techniques used routinely to insure test fairness. Three of these relevant to the book's contents are: * detailed reviews of test items by subject matter experts and members of the major subgroups in society (gender, ethnic, and linguistic) that will be represented in the examinee population * comparisons of the predictive validity of the test done separately for each one of the major subgroups of examinees * extensive statistical analyses of the relative performance of major subgroups of examinees on individual test items.

Researchers in all clinical fields are fully aware of the importance of Quality of Life measurements in judging the efficacy of a given treatment. Psychological criteria play an important role in this evaluation. Assessment of Quality of Life in Clinical Trials: methods and practice explores the current state of the art and illustrates the benefits and potential of health related quality of life assessment in clinical trials. It covers a wide range of analytical issues, emphasizing new and innovative approaches that are of practical and clinical importance.

This book provides students with a concise introduction to test bias from a psychometric point-of-view without statistics. It uses easy to understand graphs to explain complex technical approaches to test bias giving readers a highly sought-after knowledge enabling them to be better consumers of tests. Studies performed by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) consistently show that selection is a key competency for Human Resource (HR) professionals. Knowledge of test bias is a key component to effectively and legally performing this highly valued HR function. Unfortunately, test bias is rarely covered in HR classes or is presented in a highly technical manner geared to individuals with strong statistical and mathematical backgrounds. This book, requiring no previous statistical or mathematical knowledge, can be used as a supplemental textbook for any class that deals with selection, staffing, or measurement at the undergraduate or graduate level.

In this book, the authors provide a cogent review of statistical and interpretive procedures that, in combination, can be used to reduce the likelihood that tests contain items that favor members of one gender, age, racial, or ethnic group over equally able members of another group, for reasons that are unrelated to the objectives and purposes of measurement. Such test items are said to be biased against the equally able members of the group that is not favored. The methods described and illustrated in this book have the potential to reducing the incidence of tests that are, in their construction, biased against members of one or more groups. These methods have the potential of controlling an important source of invalidity when test results are interpreted.

The second edition of the Handbook of Test Development provides graduate students and professionals with an up-to-date, research-oriented guide to the latest developments in the field. Including thirty-two chapters by well-known scholars and practitioners, it is divided into five sections, covering the foundations of test development, content definition, item development, test design and form assembly, and the processes of test administration, documentation, and evaluation. Keenly aware of developments in the field since the publication of the first edition, including changes in technology, the evolution of psychometric theory, and the increased demands for effective tests via educational policy, the editors of this edition include new chapters on assessing noncognitive skills, measuring growth and learning progressions, automated item generation and test assembly, and computerized scoring of constructed responses. The volume also includes expanded coverage of performance testing, validity, fairness, and numerous other topics. Edited by Suzanne Lane, Mark R. Raymond, and Thomas M. Haladyna, The Handbook of Test Development, 2nd edition, is based on the revised Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, and is appropriate for graduate courses and seminars that deal with test development and usage, professional testing services and credentialing agencies, state and local boards of education, and academic libraries serving these groups.