IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jedbes/v40y2015i5p511-528.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Asymptotic Distribution of Ability Estimates

Author

Listed:
  • Sandip Sinharay

    (Pacific Metrics Corporation)

Abstract

The maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) of the ability parameter of an item response theory model with known item parameters was proved to be asymptotically normally distributed under a set of regularity conditions for tests involving dichotomous items and a unidimensional ability parameter (Klauer, 1990; Lord, 1983). This article first considers the more general case of tests that include a mix of dichotomous and polytomous items. A proof is given of the asymptotic normality of the MLE of the ability parameter for such tests under a set of regularity conditions. Then, it is proved that a similar result holds for the weighted likelihood estimate and the posterior mode of the ability parameter. Multidimensional ability parameters are considered next. Numerical illustrations are provided to demonstrate the asymptotic results.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandip Sinharay, 2015. "The Asymptotic Distribution of Ability Estimates," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 40(5), pages 511-528, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:40:y:2015:i:5:p:511-528
    DOI: 10.3102/1076998615606115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/1076998615606115
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3102/1076998615606115?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Segall, 1996. "Multidimensional adaptive testing," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 61(2), pages 331-354, June.
    2. Hua-Hua Chang, 1996. "The asymptotic posterior normality of the latent trait for polytomous IRT models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 61(3), pages 445-463, September.
    3. A. Philippou & G. Roussas, 1975. "Asymptotic normality of the maximum likelihood estimate in the independent not identically distributed case," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 27(1), pages 45-55, December.
    4. Haruhiko Ogasawara, 2012. "Asymptotic expansions for the ability estimator in item response theory," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 661-683, December.
    5. Thomas Warm, 1989. "Weighted likelihood estimation of ability in item response theory," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 427-450, September.
    6. Ogasawara, Haruhiko, 2012. "Supplement to the paper“ Asymptotic expansions for the ability estimator in item response theory”," 商学討究 (Shogaku Tokyu), Otaru University of Commerce, vol. 63(2/3), pages 329-336.
    7. Chun Wang, 2015. "On Latent Trait Estimation in Multidimensional Compensatory Item Response Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(2), pages 428-449, June.
    8. Frederic Lord, 1983. "Unbiased estimators of ability parameters, of their variance, and of their parallel-forms reliability," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 48(2), pages 233-245, June.
    9. Hua-Hua Chang & William Stout, 1993. "The asymptotic posterior normality of the latent trait in an IRT model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 37-52, March.
    10. C. Glas & Anna Dagohoy, 2007. "A Person Fit Test For Irt Models For Polytomous Items," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 72(2), pages 159-180, June.
    11. David Magis, 2015. "A Note on Weighted Likelihood and Jeffreys Modal Estimation of Proficiency Levels in Polytomous Item Response Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(1), pages 200-204, March.
    12. Ogasawara, Haruhiko, 2013. "Asymptotic properties of the Bayes and pseudo Bayes estimators of ability in item response theory," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 359-377.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yang Liu & Jan Hannig & Abhishek Pal Majumder, 2019. "Second-Order Probability Matching Priors for the Person Parameter in Unidimensional IRT Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(3), pages 701-718, September.
    2. Xiang Liu & James Yang & Hui Soo Chae & Gary Natriello, 2020. "Power Divergence Family of Statistics for Person Parameters in IRT Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 85(2), pages 502-525, June.
    3. Martin Biehler & Heinz Holling & Philipp Doebler, 2015. "Saddlepoint Approximations of the Distribution of the Person Parameter in the Two Parameter Logistic Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(3), pages 665-688, September.
    4. Ogasawara, Haruhiko, 2013. "Asymptotic cumulants of ability estimators using fallible item parameters," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 144-162.
    5. Ying Cheng & Cheng Liu & John Behrens, 2015. "Standard Error of Ability Estimates and the Classification Accuracy and Consistency of Binary Decisions," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(3), pages 645-664, September.
    6. Ogasawara, Haruhiko, 2013. "Asymptotic properties of the Bayes and pseudo Bayes estimators of ability in item response theory," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 359-377.
    7. Piero Veronese & Eugenio Melilli, 2021. "Confidence Distribution for the Ability Parameter of the Rasch Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 86(1), pages 131-166, March.
    8. Sandip Sinharay, 2016. "Asymptotically Correct Standardization of Person-Fit Statistics Beyond Dichotomous Items," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 81(4), pages 992-1013, December.
    9. David Magis, 2016. "Efficient Standard Error Formulas of Ability Estimators with Dichotomous Item Response Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 81(1), pages 184-200, March.
    10. Mia J. K. Kornely & Maria Kateri, 2022. "Asymptotic Posterior Normality of Multivariate Latent Traits in an IRT Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(3), pages 1146-1172, September.
    11. David Magis & Norman Verhelst, 2017. "On the Finiteness of the Weighted Likelihood Estimator of Ability," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 82(3), pages 637-647, September.
    12. Chun Wang, 2015. "On Latent Trait Estimation in Multidimensional Compensatory Item Response Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(2), pages 428-449, June.
    13. Chun Wang & Hua-Hua Chang & Keith Boughton, 2011. "Kullback–Leibler Information and Its Applications in Multi-Dimensional Adaptive Testing," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 76(1), pages 13-39, January.
    14. Chun Wang & Gongjun Xu & Xue Zhang, 2019. "Correction for Item Response Theory Latent Trait Measurement Error in Linear Mixed Effects Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(3), pages 673-700, September.
    15. Maarten Marsman & Gunter Maris & Timo Bechger & Cees Glas, 2016. "What can we learn from Plausible Values?," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 81(2), pages 274-289, June.
    16. Chun Wang & David J. Weiss & Zhuoran Shang, 2019. "Variable-Length Stopping Rules for Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(3), pages 749-771, September.
    17. Ping Chen & Chun Wang, 2016. "A New Online Calibration Method for Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 81(3), pages 674-701, September.
    18. Ping Chen, 2017. "A Comparative Study of Online Item Calibration Methods in Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 42(5), pages 559-590, October.
    19. Sandip Sinharay & Jens Ledet Jensen, 2019. "Higher-Order Asymptotics and Its Application to Testing the Equality of the Examinee Ability Over Two Sets of Items," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(2), pages 484-510, June.
    20. Oberrauch, Luis & Kaiser, Tim, 2020. "Economic competence in early secondary school: Evidence from a large-scale assessment in Germany," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:40:y:2015:i:5:p:511-528. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.