The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale is a well-known self-report instrument that is used to measure depressive symptomatology. Respondents who take the full-length version of the CES-D are administered a total of 20 items. This article investigates the use of curtailment and stochastic curtailment (SC), two sequential…

This article extends the work by Armstrong and Shi on CUmulative SUM (CUSUM) person-fit methodology. The authors present new theoretical considerations concerning the use of CUSUM person-fit statistics based on likelihood ratios for the purpose of detecting cheating and random guessing by individual test takers. According to the Neyman-Pearson…

In a randomized experiment (n = 515), a computerized and a computerized adaptive test (CAT) are compared. The item pool consists of 24 polytomous motivation items. Although items are carefully selected, calibration data show that Samejima's graded response model did not fit the data optimally. A simulation study is done to assess possible…

Proposes a procedure for empirical initialization of the trait (theta) estimator in adaptive testing that is based on the statistical relation between theta and background variables known prior to test administration. Illustrates the procedure for an adaptive version of a test from the Dutch General Aptitude Battery. (SLD)

In this study, 590 third graders from 12 Dutch schools took 32 tests indicating 16 semantic Structure-of-Intellect (SI) abilities and 1 of 4 reading comprehension tests, involving either multiple-choice or open-ended items. Results indicate that item type for reading comprehension is congeneric with respect to SI abilities measured. (TJH)