Premium
The Effect of Speededness on Parameter Estimation in Item Response Theory
Author(s) -
Oshima T. C.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of educational measurement
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.917
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-3984
pISSN - 0022-0655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3984.1994.tb00443.x
Subject(s) - item response theory , statistics , estimation , econometrics , random effects model , mathematics , correlation , test (biology) , equating , blank , psychology , psychometrics , meta analysis , mechanical engineering , paleontology , rasch model , medicine , geometry , management , engineering , economics , biology
There is a paucity of research in item response theory (IRT) examining the consequences of violating the implicit assumption of nonspeededness. In this study, test data were simulated systematically under various speeded conditions. The three factors considered in relation to speededness were proportion of test not reached (5%, 10%, and 15%), response to not reached (blank vs. random response), and item ordering (random vs. easy to hard). The effects of these factors on parameter estimation were then examined by comparing the item and ability parameter estimates with the known true parameters. Results indicated that the ability estimation was least affected by speededness in terms of the correlation between true and estimated ability parameters. On the other hand, substantial effects of speededness were observed among item parameter estimates. Recommendations for minimizing the effects of speededness are discussed