Advanced modeling of item response data through the item response theory (IRT) or item factor analysis frameworks is becoming increasingly popular. In the social and behavioral sciences, the underlying structure of tests/assessments is often multidimensional (i.e., more than 1 latent variable/construct is represented in the items). This review…

More than three decades after their introduction, diagnostic classification models (DCM) do not seem to have been implemented in educational systems for the purposes they were devised. Most DCM research is either methodological for model development and refinement or retrofitting to existing nondiagnostic tests and, in the latter case, basically…

Educational materials focused on spatial data analysis often feature mathematical descriptions of methods and step-by-step instructions of software tools, but infrequently discuss the set of decisions involved in specifying a statistical model. Failing to consider model specification may lead to specification searching, or the process of repeating…

Researchers in psychology are increasingly using model selection strategies to decide among competing models, rather than evaluating the fit of a given model in isolation. However, such interest in model selection outpaces an awareness that one or a few cases can have disproportionate impact on the model ranking. Though case influence on the fit…

CEFA 3.02(Browne, Cudeck, Tateneni, & Mels, 2008) is a factor analysis computer program designed to perform exploratory factor analysis. It provides the main properties that are needed for exploratory factor analysis, namely a variety of factoring methods employing eight different discrepancy functions to be minimized to yield initial…

Recently, R. D. Stoel, F. G. Garre, C. Dolan, and G. van den Wittenboer (2006) reviewed approaches for obtaining reference mixture distributions for difference tests when a parameter is on the boundary. The authors of the present study argue that this methodology is incomplete without a discussion of when the mixtures are needed and show that they…

Takes several goodness-of-fit statistics as measures of variable selection and develops backward elimination and forward selection procedures in exploratory factor analysis. A newly developed variable selection program, SEFA, can print several fit measures for a current model and models obtained by removing an internal variable or adding an…

This paper outlines how the stationary ARMA (p,q) model (G. Box and G. Jenkins, 1976) can be specified as a structural equation model. Maximum likelihood estimates for the parameters in the ARMA model can be obtained by software for fitting structural equation models. The method is applied to three problem types. (SLD)

A FORTRAN-77 subroutine is presented to calculate two test statistics for assessing goodness-of-fit in categorical data. The test statistic inferences are based on the exact first three cumulants of the Pearson chi-square statistic and a recently published modification of the Pearson chi-square statistic. (Author)

This study examined how well current software implementations of four polytomous item response theory models fit several multiple-choice tests. The main conclusion is that fitting polytomous item response models to multiple-choice item responses is more complex than fitting the three-parameter logistic model to dichotomously scored responses. (SLD)

Six methods for fitting path models with weighted composites of variables replacing latent variables (of which five are easily implemented with conventional computer software) are introduced and related to "soft" modeling by Partial Least Squares. Criteria for comparing their performance are devised, and some evaluative remarks are…

Working from a common data base and hypothesized model, this paper demonstrates and compares the EQS and LISREL computer program strategies in the analysis of a second-order factor model. Program similarities and differences are noted with respect to: (1) preliminary analyses of the data; (2) treatment of data that are not multivariately normal;…

A model-fitting analysis of the covariance structure of an intelligence quotient (IQ) data set is reported using a model that considers additive and nonadditive genetic parameters and shared and nonshared environment parameters that permit different estimates for different types of relatives. The use of LISREL for such purposes is reviewed. (SLD)

The Lollipop Test (La Prueba Lollipop) is a bilingual preschool readiness test (in both English and Spanish) that has been the subject of a number of studies to assess validity and detect cultural bias. Such studies have not dealt with item analysis as a way to measure cultural fairness. The Rasch model was used in a study of the Lollipop test…