Item Response Theory True Score Equatings and Their Standard Errors

Abstract

The asymptotic standard errors of the estimates of the equated scores by several types of item response theory (IRT) true score equatings are provided. The first group of equatings do not use IRT equating coefficients. The second group of equatings use the IRT equating coefficients given by the moment or characteristic curve methods. The equating designs considered in this article cover those with internal or external common items and the methods with separate or simultaneous estimation of item parameters of associated tests. For the estimates of the asymptotic standard errors of the equated true scores, the method of marginal maximum likelihood estimation is employed for estimation of item parameters.