The accuracy of certain internal consistency estimators have been questioned in recent years. The present study tests the accuracy of six reliability estimators (Cronbach's alpha, omega, omega hierarchical, Revelle's omega, and greatest lower bound) in 140 simulated conditions of unidimensional continuous data with uncorrelated errors with varying…

A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted to examine the performance of [alpha], [lambda]2, [lambda][subscript 4], [lambda][subscript 2], [omega][subscript T], GLB[subscript MRFA], and GLB[subscript Algebraic] coefficients. Population reliability, distribution shape, sample size, test length, and number of response categories were varied…

Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) can provide multidimensional diagnostic feedback about students' mastery levels of knowledge components or attributes. One advantage of using DCMs is the ability to accurately and reliably classify students into mastery levels with a relatively small number of items per attribute. Combining DCMs with…

There is an increasing demand for assessments that can provide more fine-grained information about examinees. In response to the demand, diagnostic measurement provides students with feedback on their strengths and weaknesses on specific skills by classifying them into mastery or nonmastery attribute categories. These attributes often form a…

The Angoff method requires experts to view every item on the test and make a probability judgment. This can be time consuming when there are large numbers of items on the test. In this study, a G-theory framework was used to determine if a subset of items can be used to make generalizable cut-score recommendations. Angoff ratings (i.e.,…

Many latent traits in social sciences display a hierarchical structure, such as intelligence, cognitive ability, or personality. Usually a second-order factor is linearly related to a group of first-order factors (also called domain abilities in cognitive ability measures), and the first-order factors directly govern the actual item responses.…

Personnel selection shows an enduring need for short stand-alone tests consisting of, say, 5 to 15 items. Despite their efficiency, short tests are more vulnerable to measurement error than longer test versions. Consequently, the question arises to what extent reducing test length deteriorates decision quality due to increased impact of…

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in estimating and improving subscore reliability. In this study, the multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) and the bi-factor model were combined to estimate subscores, to obtain subscores reliability, and subscores classification. Both the compensatory and partially compensatory MIRT…

Three decision consistency and accuracy (DC/DA) methods, the Livingston and Lewis (LL) method, LEE method, and the Hambleton and Han (HH) method, were evaluated. The purposes of the study were: (1) to evaluate the accuracy and robustness of these methods, especially when their assumptions were not well satisfied, (2) to investigate the "true"…

Computer administered tests are becoming increasingly prevalent as computer technology becomes more readily available on a large scale. For testing programs that utilize both computer and paper administrations, mode effects are problematic in that they can result in examinee scores that are artificially inflated or deflated. As such, researchers…

Short tests containing at most 15 items are used in clinical and health psychology, medicine, and psychiatry for making decisions about patients. Because short tests have large measurement error, the authors ask whether they are reliable enough for classifying patients into a treatment and a nontreatment group. For a given certainty level,…

Undergraduate psychology examinations from 48 schools were analyzed to determine the proportion of items at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy, item format, and test length. Analyses indicated significant relationships between item complexity and test length even when taking format into account. Use of higher items may be related to shorter tests,…