Applications of polytomous IRT models in applied fields (e.g., health, education, psychology) are abound. However, little is known about the impact of the number of categories and sample size requirements for precise parameter recovery. In a simulation study, we investigated the impact of the number of response categories and required sample size…

Determining the number of dimensions is extremely important in applying item response theory (IRT) models to data. Traditional and revised parallel analyses have been proposed within the factor analysis framework, and both have shown some promise in assessing dimensionality. However, their performance in the IRT framework has not been…

To reduce the chance of Heywood cases or nonconvergence in estimating the 2PL or the 3PL model in the marginal maximum likelihood with the expectation-maximization (MML-EM) estimation method, priors for the item slope parameter in the 2PL model or for the pseudo-guessing parameter in the 3PL model can be used and the marginal maximum a posteriori…

Many recent studies have looked at the viability of applying recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to educational data. In most cases, this is done by comparing their performance to existing models in the artificial intelligence in education (AIED) and educational data mining (EDM) fields. While there is increasing evidence that, in many situations,…

The four-parameter logistic (4PL) Item Response Theory (IRT) model has recently been reconsidered in the literature due to the advances in the statistical modeling software and the recent developments in the estimation of the 4PL IRT model parameters. The current simulation study evaluated the performance of expectation-maximization (EM),…

The application of diagnostic classification models (DCMs) in the field of educational measurement is getting more attention in recent years. To make a valid inference from the model, it is important to ensure that the model fits the data. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the performance of the limited information…

S-X[superscript 2] is a popular item fit index that is available in commercial software packages such as "flex"MIRT. However, no research has systematically examined the performance of S-X[superscript 2] for detecting item misfit within the context of the multidimensional graded response model (MGRM). The primary goal of this study was…

This study develops a theoretical model for the costs of an exam as a function of its duration. Two kind of costs are distinguished: (1) the costs of measurement errors and (2) the costs of the measurement. Both costs are expressed in time of the student. Based on a classical test theory model, enriched with assumptions on the context, the costs…

The unstructured multiple-attempt (MA) item response data in virtual learning environments (VLEs) are often from student-selected assessment data sets, which include missing data, single-attempt responses, multiple-attempt responses, and unknown growth ability across attempts, leading to a complex and complicated scenario for using this kind of…