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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to document the delta method to compute the standard error of the estimates of the converted item response theory (IRT) discrimination and difficulty parameters derived from multiple-indicator, multiple-causes (MIMIC) model parameters. Discussed is the formulation of MIMIC models to explore differential item functioning in Mplus and how to obtain factor-analytic estimates that are converted easily into IRT parameters. Also described are the partial derivatives necessary to apply the delta method to estimate variances for the converted parameters. Both item difficulty and discrimination parameters estimated from MIMIC parameters were very close to the Multilog estimates. The variance estimates for most parameters were similar as well.

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Variance Estimation for Converting MIMIC Model Parameters to IRT Parameters in DIF Analysis

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