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A Note on the Geometric Interpretation of the EM Algorithm in Estimating Item Characteristics and Student Abilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Edward H. Ip*
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
Neal Lalwania
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to the Edward H. Ip, Information and Operations Management Department, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089. E-Mail: eip@sba.usc.edu

Abstract

This note uses the EM-algorithm in an item response model as an illustration of a general method of parameter estimation, which geometrically can be described as an alternating projection method.

Type
Notes And Comments
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

The research was initiated by a series of lectures on alternating projection methods given by Imre Csiszar in 1993 at Stanford University where the first author was a graduate student.

References

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