Testlet Response Theory and Its Applications

The first comprehensive description of a scoring model for tests composed of smaller tests focusing on narrow topics.

Howard Wainer (Author), Eric T. Bradlow (Author), Xiaohui Wang (Author)

9780521681261, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 March 2007

280 pages, 22 tables 65 exercises
22.9 x 15.4 x 1.2 cm, 0.382 kg

'… a very accessible and incredibly delightful book to read. … an excellent resource … a valuable addition to the bookshelves of teachers, students and researchers in testing and measurement.' Psychometrika

The measurement models employed to score tests have been evolving over the past century from those that focus on the entire test (true score theory) to models that focus on individual test items (item response theory) to models that use small groups of items (testlets) as the fungible unit from which tests are constructed and scored (testlet response theory, or TRT). In this book, the inventors of TRT trace the history of this evolution and explain the character of modern TRT. Written for researchers and professionals in statistics, psychometrics, and educational psychology, the first part offers an accessible introduction to TRT and its applications. The second part presents a comprehensive, self-contained discussion of the model couched within a fully Bayesian framework. Its parameters are estimated using Markov chain Monte Carlo procedures, and the resulting posterior distributions of the parameter estimates yield insights into score stability that were previously unsuspected.

Preface
Part I. Introduction to Testlets: 1. Introduction to testing
2. Traditional true score theory
3. Item response theory
4. Testlet response theory: introduction and preview
5. The origins of testlet response theory: three alternatives
6. Fitting testlets with polytomous IRT models: the Law School Admissions Test as an example
Part II. Bayesian Testlet Response Theory: Introduction
7. A brief history and the basic ideas of modern testlet response theory
8. The 2-PL Bayesian testlet model
9. The 3-PL Bayesian testlet model
10. A Bayesian testlet model for a mixture of binary and polytomous data
11. A Bayesian testlet model with covariates
12. Testlet nonresponse theory: dealing with missing data
Part III. Applications and Ancillary Topics: Introduction
13. Using posterior distributions to evaluate passing scores: The PPoP curve
14. DIF - Differential Testlet Functioning
15. Estimation: a Bayesian primer.

Subject Areas: Probability & statistics [PBT], Educational psychology [JNC]