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Item Selection by the Constant Process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

George A. Ferguson
George A. Ferguson*
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Research, University of Toronto
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Abstract

This paper relates the constant process used in psychophysics to the problem of item selection. Each test item may be described in terms of a limen, which is an index of the point at which an item discriminates, and the standard deviation of the limen, which is an index of the “goodness” of discrimination. The method developed may be related not only to the description of items but also to the description of persons. Thus a person's ability may be described in terms of a limen and its standard deviation.

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 1942 , pp. 19 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © 1942 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

I am indebted to Godfrey H. Thomson of the University of Edinburgh for reading and criticising part of this paper, and to D. N. Lawley of the same University for assistance in the development of certain of the arguments contained herein.

References

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