Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-06T03:00:52.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Estimating True Score in the Compound Binomial Error Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Rand R. Wilcox*
Affiliation:
University of California at Los Angeles
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Rand R. Wilcox, Center for the Study of Evaluation, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024.

Abstract

Several procedures have been proposed in the statistical literature for estimating simultaneously the mean of each of k binomial populations. In terms of mental test theory, however, it is not clear that these procedures should be used when an item sampling model applies since the binomial error model is usually viewed as an oversimplification of the “true” situation. In this study we compare empirically several of these estimation techniques. Particular attention is given to situations where observations are generated according to a two-term approximation to the compound binomial distribution.

Keywords

Type
Original Paper
Copyright
Copyright © 1978 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 would like to thank Shelley Niwa for writing the computer programs used in this study.

The work upon which this publication is based was performed pursuant to Grant # NIE-G-76-0083 with the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Points of view or opinions stated do not necessarily represent official NIE position or policy.

References

Copas, J. B. Empirical Bayes methods and the repeated use of a standard. Biometrika, 1972, 59, 349360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, B. Biased versus unbiased estimation. Advances in Mathematics, 1975, 16, 259277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, B., & Morris, C. Limiting the risk of Bayes and empirical Bayes estimators—Part I: The Bayes case. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1971, 66, 807815.Google Scholar
Efron, B., & Morris, C. Limiting the risk of Bayes and empirical Bayes estimators—Part II: The empirical Bayes case. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1972, 67, 130139.Google Scholar
Efron, B., & Morris, C. Empirical Bayes on vector observations—An extension of Stein's method. Biometrika, 1972, 59, 335347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, B., & Morris, C. Stein's estimation rule and its competitors. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1973, 68, 117130.Google Scholar
Efron, B., & Morris, C. Combining possibly related estimation problems. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 1973, 35, 379421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, B., & Morris, C. Data analysis using Stein's estimator and its generalizations. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1975, 70, 311319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, M. F., & Tukey, J. W. Transformations related to the angular and the square root. The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 1950, 21, 607611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, S. L. Evaluation of empirical Bayes estimators for small numbers of past samples. Biometrika, 1971, 58, 244244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, B. S., & Krutchkoff, R. G. Optimal linear estimators: An empirical Bayes version with application to the binomial distribution. Biometrika, 1971, 58, 195201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, W., & Stein, C. Estimation with quadratic loss. Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability (Vol. 1). Berkeley: University of California Press. 1961, 361379.Google Scholar
Keats, J. A., & Lord, F. M. A theoretical distribution for mental test scores. Psychometrika, 1962, 27, 5972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemon, G. H., & Krutchkoff, R. G. An empirical Bayes smoothing technique. Biometrika, 1969, 56, 361365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, T. Some alternative approaches to multiparameter estimation. Biometrika, 1976, 63, 6975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindley, D. Discussion of paper by C. Stein. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 1962, 24, 265296.Google Scholar
Lord, F. M. A strong true-score theory, with applications. Psychometrika, 1965, 30, 239270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lord, F. M., & Novick, M. R. Statistical theories of mental test scores, 1968, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Maritz, J. S. Empirical Bayes methods, 1970, London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Martz, H. F., & Lian, M. G. Empirical Bayes estimation of the binomial parameter. Biometrika, 1974, 61, 517517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meredith, W., & Kearns, J. Empirical Bayes point estimates of latent trait scores without knowledge of the trait distribution. Psychometrika, 1973, 38, 533554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosteller, F., & Tukey, J. W. Data analysis, including statistics. In Lindzey, G., Aronsen, E. (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, 1968, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Mosteller, F., & Youtz, C. Tables of the Freeman-Tukey transformations for the binomial and Poisson distributions. Biometrika, 1961, 48, 433440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raiffa, H., & Schlaifer, R. Applied statistical decision theory, 1961, Boston: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Rao, C. R. Linear statistical inference and its applications, 1973, New York: John Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, C. R. Estimation of parameters in a linear model. The Annals of Statistics, 1976, 4, 10231037.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuel, E. The compound statistical decision problem. Sankhya, Series A, 1967, 29, 123140.Google Scholar
Subkoviak, M. Estimating reliability from a single administration of a mastery test. Journal of Educational Measurement, 1976, 13, 265276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar