. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This study investigated the adequacy of a rating scale with a large number of response categories that is often used in panel surveys for assessing diverse aspects of job satisfaction. An inappropriate scale usage is indicative of overstraining respondents and of diminished psychometric scale quality. The mixed Item Response Theory (IRT) approach for polytomous data allows exploring heterogeneo...

A systematic procedure was described by which task scenarios can be derived as a basis for educationally informative and developmentally tailored driving assessments. To this end, Mislevy ́s evidence centered design model for assessment was applied to the driving context. Borrowing from recent theories on driving and driving errors, task environment attributes were derived which may complicate t...

Using picosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging we have studied the intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) dynamics that occur following the excitation of the 35 level which lies 2068 cm above the S1 origin in p-difluorobenzene. Our technique, which has superior time resolution to that of earlier studies but retains sufficient energy resolution to identify the behavior of i...

A regression procedure is developed to link simultaneously a very large number of item response theory (IRT) parameter estimates obtained from a large number of test forms, where each form has been separately calibrated and where forms can be linked on a pairwise basis by means of common items. An application is made to forms in which a two-parameter logistic model is applied to dichotomous ite...

We propose a variety of models for incorporating learning over time into the cognitive assessment modeling framework. In two of the models, we use Item Response Theory (IRT; VanDerLinden and Hambleton 1997) where we assume that a continuous latent parameter measures a student’s general proficiency in the area of interest. In the other two models, we use Cognitive Diagnosis Models (CDMs; Rupp an...

Item response theory models are often applied when a number items are used to measure a unidimensional latent variable. Originally proposed within educational research, they are now also being used when focus is on e.g. physical functioning or psychological well-being. Modern applications often need more general models, typically models for multidimensional latent variables or longitudinal mode...

Survey researchers often administer batteries of questions to measure respondents' abilities, but these batteries are not always designed in keeping with the principles of optimal test construction. This paper illustrates one instance in which following these principles can improve a measurement tool used widely in the social and behavioral sciences: the GSS's vocabulary test called "Wordsum". ...

This study compares the psychometric utility of Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) for scale construction with data from higher education student surveys. Using 2008 Your First College Year (YFCY) survey data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, two scales are built and tested—one measuring social involve...