Open AccessEMPIRICAL ESTIMATION ERRORS IN ITEM RESPONSE THEORY AS A FUNCTION OF TEST PROPERTIES *
Author(s) -
Stocking Martha L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
ets research report series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.235
H-Index - 5
ISSN - 2330-8516
DOI - 10.1002/j.2330-8516.1989.tb00331.x
Subject(s) - item response theory , estimation , statistics , econometrics , maximum likelihood , function (biology) , mathematics , likelihood function , test (biology) , set (abstract data type) , computer science , psychometrics , management , evolutionary biology , economics , biology , programming language , paleontology
The success of applications of Item Response Theory (IRT) depends upon the properties of the estimates of model parameters. Many theoretical properities of these estimates have been extensively studied. However, the properties of estimates obtained empirically from real data depend not only on the theoretical results, but also on the data and the estimation procedures used to obtain them. In this paper, the properites of estimates obtained from a commonly‐used implementation of the joint maximum likelihood approach (LOGIST) are examined extensively and shown to be, in part, functions of the properties of the test or item set being calibrated. A small study is also made of the properties of estimates obtained from a commonly‐used implementation of the marginal maximum likelihood approach (BILOG). Recommendations are made for the improvement of both procedures.