This Element demonstrates how and why the alignment method can advance measurement.

Rachel A. Gordon (Author), Tianxiu Wang (Author), Hai Nguyen (Author), Ariel M. Aloe (Author)

9781009357746, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 July 2023

75 pages
27 x 18 x 0.7 cm, 0.15 kg

This Element demonstrates how and why the alignment method can advance measurement fairness in developmental science. It explains its application to multi-category items in an accessible way, offering sample code and demonstrating an R package that facilitates interpretation of such items' multiple thresholds. It features the implications for group mean differences when differences in the thresholds between categories are ignored because items are treated as continuous, using an example of intersectional groups defined by assigned sex and race/ethnicity. It demonstrates the interpretation of item-level partial non-invariance results and their implications for group-level differences and encourages substantive theorizing regarding measurement fairness.

1. Introduction
2. Formal Presentation of Psychometric Models
3. Empirical Example
4. Discussion.

Subject Areas: Child & developmental psychology [JMC]