Short-form development is an important topic in psychometric research, which requires researchers to face methodological choices at different steps. The statistical techniques traditionally used for shortening tests, which belong to the so-called exploratory model, make assumptions not always verified in psychological data. This article proposes a…

Equating is a statistical procedure used to adjust for the difference in form difficulty such that scores on those forms can be used and interpreted comparably. In practice, however, equating methods are often implemented without considering the extent to which two forms differ in difficulty. The study aims to examine the effect of the magnitude…

Zhang and Savalei proposed an alternative scale format to the Likert format, called the Expanded format. In this format, response options are presented in complete sentences, which can reduce acquiescence bias and method effects. The goal of the current study was to compare the psychometric properties of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) in…

The possible dependency of criterion validity on item formulation in a multicomponent measuring instrument is examined. The discussion is concerned with evaluation of the differences in criterion validity between two or more groups (populations/subpopulations) that have been administered instruments with items having differently formulated item…

Forced-choice questionnaires can prevent faking and other response biases typically associated with rating scales. However, the derived trait scores are often unreliable and ipsative, making interindividual comparisons in high-stakes situations impossible. Several studies suggest that these problems vanish if the number of measured traits is high.…

The development of technology-enhanced innovative items calls for practical models that can describe polytomous testlet items. In this study, we evaluate four measurement models that can characterize polytomous items administered in testlets: (a) generalized partial credit model (GPCM), (b) testlet-as-a-polytomous-item model (TPIM), (c)…

The multiple response structure can underlie several different technology-enhanced item types. With the increased use of computer-based testing, multiple response items are becoming more common. This response type holds the potential for being scored polytomously for partial credit. However, there are several possible methods for computing raw…

A psychological framework for different types of items commonly used with mixed-format exams is proposed. A choice model based on signal detection theory (SDT) is used for multiple-choice (MC) items, whereas an item response theory (IRT) model is used for open-ended (OE) items. The SDT and IRT models are shown to share a common conceptualization…

The forced-choice (FC) item formats used for noncognitive tests typically develop a set of response options that measure different traits and instruct respondents to make judgments among these options in terms of their preference to control the response biases that are commonly observed in normative tests. Diagnostic classification models (DCMs)…

In dichotomous item response theory (IRT) framework, the asymptotic standard error (ASE) is the most common statistic to evaluate the precision of various ability estimators. Easy-to-use ASE formulas are readily available; however, the accuracy of some of these formulas was recently questioned and new ASE formulas were derived from a general…

Based on the framework of testlet models, the current study suggests the Bayesian random block item response theory (BRB IRT) model to fit forced-choice formats where an item block is composed of three or more items. To account for local dependence among items within a block, the BRB IRT model incorporated a random block effect into the response…

This article examines the possible dependency of composite reliability on presentation format of the elements of a multi-item measuring instrument. Using empirical data and a recent method for interval estimation of group differences in reliability, we demonstrate that the reliability of an instrument need not be the same when polarity of the…

Wording effects associated with positively and negatively worded items have been found in many scales. Such effects may threaten construct validity and introduce systematic bias in the interpretation of results. A variety of models have been applied to address wording effects, such as the correlated uniqueness model and the correlated traits and…

The selection of an appropriate booklet design is an important element of large-scale assessments of student achievement. Two design properties that are typically optimized are the "balance" with respect to the positions the items are presented and with respect to the mutual occurrence of pairs of items in the same booklet. The purpose…

Many scales contain both positively and negatively worded items. Reverse recoding of negatively worded items might not be enough for them to function as positively worded items do. In this study, we commented on the drawbacks of existing approaches to wording effect in mixed-format scales and used bi-factor item response theory (IRT) models to…