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Register a new userBayesian analysis of dynamic item response models in educational testing
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Added by
Xiaojing Wang
Publication date
2013
fields
Mathematical Statistics
and research's language is
English
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Item response theory (IRT) models have been widely used in educational measurement testing. When there are repeated observations available for individuals through time, a dynamic structure for the latent trait of ability needs to be incorporated into the model, to accommodate changes in ability. Other complications that often arise in such settings include a violation of the common assumption that test results are conditionally independent, given ability and item difficulty, and that test item difficulties may be partially specified, but subject to uncertainty. Focusing on time series dichotomous response data, a new class of state space models, called Dynamic Item Response (DIR) models, is proposed. The models can be applied either retrospectively to the full data or on-line, in cases where real-time prediction is needed. The models are studied through simulated examples and applied to a large collection of reading test data obtained from MetaMetrics, Inc.
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Item response theory (IRT) has become one of the most popular statistical models for psychometrics, a field of study concerned with the theory and techniques of psychological measurement. The IRT models are latent factor models tailored to the analysis, interpretation, and prediction of individuals behaviors in answering a set of measurement items that typically involve categorical response data. Many important questions of measurement are directly or indirectly answered through the use of IRT models, including scoring individuals test performances, validating a test scale, linking two tests, among others. This paper provides a review of item response theory, including its statistical framework and psychometric applications. We establish connections between item response theory and related topics in statistics, including empirical Bayes, nonparametric methods, matrix completion, regularized estimation, and sequential analysis. Possible future directions of IRT are discussed from the perspective of statistical learning.
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