Item Response Theory: Models and Features

Introduction

Educational and psychological testing has been undergoing major changes in recent years. Demands for new psychological measures, increased interest in diagnostic assessment, the influence of cognitive psychology on testing, introduction of new test item formats, and the role of computers in test administration, scoring, and score interpretations are five of many changes taking place in testing practices today. Less well known among psychologists is the fact that the basic psychometric theory for developing educational and psychological tests and evaluating tests and test scores is changing too and these changes should make the construction and evaluation of tests and the interpretation of test scores easier and potentially more valid.

Psychologists have seen occasional references to the Rasch model, the three-parameter logistic model, latent trait theory, item response ...