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Estimating the Imputed Social Cost of Errors of Measurement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Frederic M. Lord
Frederic M. Lord*
Affiliation:
Educational Testing Service
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Frederic M. Lord, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey 08541.
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Abstract

If a loss function is available specifying the social cost of an error of measurement in the score on a unidimensional test, an asymptotic method, based on item response theory, is developed for optimal test design for a specified target population of examinees. Since in the real world such loss functions are not available, it is more useful to reverse this process; thus a method is developed for finding the loss function for which a given test is an optimally designed test for the target population. An illustrative application is presented for one operational test.

Keywords

item response theorydecision theorytest designloss functioninformation functionitem selection
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , March 1985 , pp. 57 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

This work was supported in part by contract N00014-80-C-0402, project designation NR 150-453 between the Office of Naval Research and Educational Testing Service. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose of the United States Government.

References

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Lord, F. M. (1980). Applications of item response theory to practical testing problems, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Wingersky, M. S., Barton, M. A., & Lord, F. M. (1982). LOGIST user's guide, Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.Google Scholar