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Assessing the Practical Equivalence of Conversions When Measurement Conditions Change
Author(s) -
Liu Jinghua,
Dorans Neil J.
Publication year - 2012
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.1745-3984.2011.00162.x
Subject(s) - equivalence (formal languages) , rounding , set (abstract data type) , test (biology) , base (topology) , computer science , mathematics , statistics , discrete mathematics , programming language , paleontology , mathematical analysis , biology , operating system
At times, the same set of test questions is administered under different measurement conditions that might affect the psychometric properties of the test scores enough to warrant different score conversions for the different conditions. We propose a procedure for assessing the practical equivalence of conversions developed for the same set of test questions but administered under different measurement conditions. This procedure assesses whether the use of separate conversions for each condition has a desirable or undesirable effect. We distinguish effects due to differences in difficulty from effects due to rounding conventions. The proposed procedure provides objective empirical information that assists in deciding to report a common conversion for a set of items or a different conversion for the set of items when the set is administered under different measurement conditions. To illustrate the use of the procedure, we consider the case where a scrambled test form is used along with a base test form. If section order effects are detected between the scrambled and base forms, a decision needs to be made whether to report a single common conversion for both forms or to report separate conversions.