Item response theory (IRT) is an increasingly popular approach to the development, evaluation, and administration of psychological measures. We introduce, first, three IRT fundamentals: (a) item response functions, (b) information functions, and (c) invariance. We next illustrate how IRT modeling can improve the quality of psychological measurement. Available evidence suggests that the differences between IRT and traditional psychometric methods are not trivial; IRT applications can improve the precision and validity of psychological research across a wide range of subjects.
ThissenD.WainerH. (2001). Test scoring. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
3.
WainerH. (2000). Computerized adaptive testing: A primer (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
4.
ButcherJ.N.GrahamJ.R.Ben-PorathY.S.TellegenA.DahlstromW.G.KaemmerB. (2001). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2): Manual for administration, scoring, and interpretation (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
5.
EmbretsonS.E. (1996). Item response theory models and spurious interaction effects in factorial ANOVA designs. Applied Psychological Measurement, 20, 201–212.
6.
EmbretsonS.E.ReiseS.P. (2000). Item response theory for psychologists. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
7.
FraleyR.C.WallerN.G.BrennanK.A. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350–365.
KhooS.T.WestS.G.WuW.KwokO.(in press).Longitudinal methods. InEidM.DienerE.(Eds.), Handbook of psychological measurement: A multimethod perspective. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
10.
McHorneyC.A.CohenA.S. (2000). Equating health status measures with item response theory: Illustrations with functional status items. Medical Care, 38(Suppl. 9), II43–II59.
11.
PerlineR.WrightB.WainerH. (1979). The Rasch model as additive conjoint measurement. Applied Psychological Measurement, 3, 237–255.
12.
ReiseS.P.HavilandM.G.(in press).Item response theory and the measurement of clinical change. Journal of Personality Assessment.
13.
ReiseS.P.WallerN.G. (2003). How many IRT parameters does it take to model psychopathology items?Psychological Methods, 8, 164–184.
14.
SantorD.A.RamsayJ.O. (1998). Progress in the technology of measurement: Applications of item response models. Psychological Assessment, 10, 345–359.
15.
WareJ.E.Jr.KosinskiM.BjornerJ.B.BaylissM.S.BatenhorstA.CarlG.H.DahlofC.G.H.TepperS.DowsonA. (2003). Applications of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to the assessment of headache impact. Quality of Life Research, 12, 935–952.
16.
WeissD.J. (2004). Computerized adaptive testing for effective and efficient measurement in counseling and education. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 37, 70–84.
