Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

PDF

Psychology

Theses/Dissertations

2001

Old Dominion University

Testing

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Methods Of Detecting Differential Item Functioning: A Comparison Of Item Response Theory And Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Ratchaneewan Wanichtanom Apr 2001

Methods Of Detecting Differential Item Functioning: A Comparison Of Item Response Theory And Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Ratchaneewan Wanichtanom

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Differential item functioning (DIF) occurs when an item performs statistically differently for a reference group than for a focal group. DIF is a threat to the validity of a test, and it can lead to illegal usage of a test in situations such as employee selection. Thus, DIF has important implications for test construction and practice. This research is a Monte Carlo study that compares Item Response Theory (IRT) and three Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) methods for detecting DIF. The three CFA methods were Model Comparison (MC), Modification Indexes (MI), and Modification Indexes-Divided sample (MI-Divided).

The research compared the detection …