Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T21:23:16.169Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Commentary: Explore Conditional Dependencies in Item Response Tree Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Minjeong Jeon Open the ORCID record for Minjeong Jeon [Opens in a new window]
Minjeong Jeon*
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
*
Correspondence should be made to Minjeong Jeon, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Item response tree (IRTree) models are widely used in various applications for their ability to differentiate sets of sub-responses from polytomous item response data based on a pre-specified tree structure. Lyu et al. (Psychometrika) article highlighted that item slopes are often lower for later nodes than earlier nodes in IRTree applications. Lyu et al. argued that this phenomenon might signal the presence of item-specific factors across nodes. In this commentary, I present a different perspective that conditional dependencies in IRTree data could explain the phenomenon more generally. I illustrate my point with an empirical example, utilizing the latent space item response model that visualizes conditional dependencies in IRTree data. I conclude the commentary with a discussion on the potential of exploring conditional dependencies in IRTree data that goes beyond identifying the sources of conditional dependencies.

Keywords

IRTree modelspolytomous item responsesconditional dependencieslatent space item response modelsinteraction map
Type
Theory & Methods
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 88 , Issue 3 , September 2023 , pp. 803 - 808
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Psychometric Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-023-09915-8.

References

Böckenholt, U., &Meiser, T.(2017). Response style analysis with threshold and multi-process IRT models: A review and tutorial. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology,70, 159–181CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Culpepper, S.(2014). If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again: Applications of sequential IRT models to cognitive assessments. Applied Psychological Measurement,38, 632–644CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Boeck, P., &Wilson, M.(2004). Explanatory item response models: A generalized linear and nonlinear approach,New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debeer, D., Janssen, R., &Boeck, P.(2017). Modeling skipped and not-reached items using IRTrees. Journal of Educational Measurement,54, 333–363CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeon, M., &De Boeck, P.(2016). A generalized item response tree model for psychological assessments. Behavior Research Methods,48, 1070–1085CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeon, M., De Boeck, P., &van der Linden, W.(2017). Modeling answer change behavior: An application of a generalized item response tree model. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics,42, 467–490CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeon, M., Jin, IH, Schweinberger, M., &Baugh, S.(2021). Mapping unobserved item-respondent interactions: A latent space item response model with interaction map. Psychometrika,86, 378–403CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyu, W., Bolt, D. M., & Westby, S. (2023). Exploring the effects of item specific factors in sequential and IRTree models. Psychometrika (In press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vansteelandt, K. (2000). Formal models for contextualized personality psychology. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Jeon supplementary material

Jeon supplementary material 1
Download Jeon supplementary material(File)
File 140.1 KB
Supplementary material: File

Jeon supplementary material

Jeon supplementary material 2
Download Jeon supplementary material(File)
File 149.6 KB