Identifying items with differential item functioning (DIF) in an assessment is a crucial step for achieving equitable measurement. One critical issue that has not been fully addressed with existing studies is how DIF items can be detected when data are multilevel. In the present study, we introduced a Lord's Wald X[superscript 2] test-based…

Test fairness is critical to the validity of group comparisons involving gender, ethnicities, culture, or treatment conditions. Detection of differential item functioning (DIF) is one component of efforts to ensure test fairness. The current study compared four treatments for items that have been identified as showing DIF: deleting, ignoring,…

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…

Whittaker, Chang, and Dodd compared the performance of model selection criteria when selecting among mixed-format IRT models and found that the criteria did not perform adequately when selecting the more parameterized models. It was suggested by M. S. Johnson that the problems when selecting the more parameterized models may be because of the low…

Response styles, the tendency to respond to Likert-type items irrespective of content, are a widely known threat to the reliability and validity of self-report measures. However, it is still debated how to measure and control for response styles such as extreme responding. Recently, multiprocess item response theory models have been proposed that…

In an effort to standardize academic application procedures, the authors developed the Standardized Letters of Recommendation (SLR) to capture important cognitive and noncognitive qualities of graduate school candidates. The SLR, which consists of seven scales, is applied to an intern-selection scenario. Both professor ratings (n = 414) during the…