Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T19:10:13.771Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Comment on ‘Some Standard Errors in Item Response Theory’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Dato N. M. de Gruijter
Dato N. M. de Gruijter*
Affiliation:
University of Leyden
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Dato N. M. de Gruijter, Educational Research Center, Boerbaavelaan 2, 2334 EN Leyden, The Netherlands.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In maximum likelihood estimation the standard error of the location parameter of the three parameter logistic model can be large, due to inaccurate estimation of the lower asymptote. Thissen and Wainer who demonstrated this effect, suggested that the introduction of a prior distribution for the lower asymptote might alleviate the problems. Here it is demonstrated in some detail that the standard error of the location parameter can be made acceptably small in this way.

Keywords

asymptotic standard errorsBayesian analysisitem response theory
Type
Notes And Comments
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , June 1984 , pp. 269 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Psychometric Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The author thanks Pieter Vijn for his helpful comments.

References

de Gruijter, D. N. M. and Mooijaart, A. (1983). Least squares estimation of the item parameters in the three-parameter logistic model. Tijdschrift voor Onderwijsresearch, 8, 218–223.Google Scholar
Lord, F. M. (1980). Applications of item response theory to practical testing problems, Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Lord, F. M. and Wingersky, M. S. (1983). Sampling variances and covariances of parameter estimates in item response theory. In Weiss, D. J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1982 item response theory/computerized adaptive testing conference, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Swaminathan, H. and Gifford, J. A. (1981). Bayesian estimation in the three-parameter logistic model, Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Thissen, D. and Wainer, H. (1982). Some standard errors in item response theory. Psychometrika, 47, 397–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, R. L., Wingersky, M. S. and Lord, F. M. (1976). LOGIST: A computer program for estimating examinee ability on item characteristic curve parameters, Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Service.Google Scholar
Wright, B. D. and Douglas, G. A. (1977). Conditional versus unconditional procedures for sample-free item analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 37, 47–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar