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Rasch Trees: A New Method for Detecting Differential Item Functioning in the Rasch Model

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  • Carolin Strobl
  • Julia Kopf
  • Achim Zeileis

Abstract

A variety of statistical methods have been suggested for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) in the Rasch model. Most of these methods are designed for the comparison of pre-specified focal and reference groups, such as males and females. Latent class approaches, on the other hand, allow the detection of previously unknown groups exhibiting DIF. However, this approach provides no straightforward interpretation of the groups with respect to person characteristics. Here, we propose a new method for DIF detection based on model-based recursive partitioning that can be considered as a compromise between those two extremes. With this approach it is possible to detect groups of subjects exhibiting DIF, which are not pre-specified, but result from combinations of observed covariates. These groups are directly interpretable and can thus help generate hypotheses about the psychological sources of DIF. The statistical background and construction of the new method are introduced by means of an instructive example, and extensive simulation studies are presented to support and illustrate the statistical properties of the method, which is then applied to empirical data from a general knowledge quiz. A software implementation of the method is freely available in the R system for statistical computing. Copyright The Psychometric Society 2015

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  • Carolin Strobl & Julia Kopf & Achim Zeileis, 2015. "Rasch Trees: A New Method for Detecting Differential Item Functioning in the Rasch Model," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(2), pages 289-316, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:psycho:v:80:y:2015:i:2:p:289-316
    DOI: 10.1007/s11336-013-9388-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Cervantes, Víctor H., 2017. "DFIT: An R Package for Raju's Differential Functioning of Items and Tests Framework," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 76(i05).
    2. Ting Wang & Carolin Strobl & Achim Zeileis & Edgar C. Merkle, 2016. "Score-Based Tests of Differential Item Functioning in the Two-Parameter Model," Working Papers 2016-05, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    3. Jones, Payton J. & Mair, Patrick & Simon, Thorsten & Zeileis, Achim, 2019. "Network Model Trees," OSF Preprints ha4cw, Center for Open Science.
    4. K. B. S. Huth & L. J. Waldorp & J. Luigjes & A. E. Goudriaan & R. J. Holst & M. Marsman, 2022. "A Note on the Structural Change Test in Highly Parameterized Psychometric Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(3), pages 1064-1080, September.
    5. Payton J. Jones & Patrick Mair & Thorsten Simon & Achim Zeileis, 2020. "Network Trees: A Method for Recursively Partitioning Covariance Structures," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 85(4), pages 926-945, December.
    6. Jeanne A. Teresi & Chun Wang & Marjorie Kleinman & Richard N. Jones & David J. Weiss, 2021. "Differential Item Functioning Analyses of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Measures: Methods, Challenges, Advances, and Future Directions," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 86(3), pages 674-711, September.
    7. Gerhard Tutz & Moritz Berger, 2016. "Item-focussed Trees for the Identification of Items in Differential Item Functioning," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 81(3), pages 727-750, September.
    8. Chen, Yunxiao & Li, Chengcheng & Ouyang, Jing & Xu, Gongjun, 2023. "DIF statistical inference without knowing anchoring items," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119923, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Ting Wang & Benjamin Graves & Yves Rosseel & Edgar C. Merkle, 2022. "Computation and application of generalized linear mixed model derivatives using lme4," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(3), pages 1173-1193, September.
    10. Ting Wang & Carolin Strobl & Achim Zeileis & Edgar C. Merkle, 2018. "Score-Based Tests of Differential Item Functioning via Pairwise Maximum Likelihood Estimation," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 83(1), pages 132-155, March.
    11. Florian Wickelmaier & Achim Zeileis, 2016. "Using Recursive Partitioning to Account for Parameter Heterogeneity in Multinomial Processing Tree Models," Working Papers 2016-26, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    12. Ke-Hai Yuan & Hongyun Liu & Yuting Han, 2021. "Differential Item Functioning Analysis Without A Priori Information on Anchor Items: QQ Plots and Graphical Test," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 86(2), pages 345-377, June.

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