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Robust Estimation of Ability in the Rasch Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Howard Wainer  and
Benjamin D. Wright
Howard Wainer*
Affiliation:
Bureau of Social Science Research
Benjamin D. Wright
Affiliation:
The University of Chicago
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Howard Wainer, Bureau of Social Science Research, 1990 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
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Abstract

Estimating ability parameters in latent trait models in general, and in the Rasch model in particular is almost always hampered by noise in the data. This noise can be caused by guessing, inattention to easy questions, and other factors which are unrelated to ability. In this study several alternative formulations which attempt to deal with these problems without a reparameterization are tested through a Monte Carlo simulation. It was found that although no one of the tested schemes is uniformly superior to all others, a modified jackknife stood out as the best one in general, it was also super efficient (more efficient than the asymptotically optimal estimator) for tests with forty or fewer items. It is proposed that this sort of jackknifing scheme for estimating ability be considered for practical work.

Keywords

Rasch modelability estimationjackknifesine M-estimateguessing correction
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 1980 , pp. 373 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © 1980 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

This research was funded through a grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (78-NI-AX-0047) to the Bureau of Social Science Research, Howard Wainer, Principal Investigator. We would like to thank Ronald Mead, Anne Morgan and James Ramsay for kind, generous, and invaluable help at various stages of the project.

References

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