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Efficient Nonparametric Approaches for Estimating the Operating Characteristics of Discrete Item Responses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Fumiko Samejima
Fumiko Samejima*
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Fumiko Samejima, 405 Austin Peay Bldg., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-0900.
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Abstract

Rationale and the actual procedures of two nonparametric approaches, called Bivariate P.D.F. Approach and Conditional P.D.F. Approach, for estimating the operating characteristic of a discrete item response, or the conditional probability, given latent trait, that the examinee's response be that specific response, are introduced and discussed. These methods are featured by the facts that: (a) estimation is made without assuming any mathematical forms, and (b) it is based upon a relatively small sample of several hundred to a few thousand examinees.

Some examples of the results obtained by the Simple Sum Procedure and the Differential Weight Procedure of the Conditional P.D.F. Approach are given, using simulated data. The usefulness of these nonparametric methods is also discussed.

Keywords

latent trait modelsconstant information modelinformation functionsability estimationasymptotic normalitytestbiasmaximum likelihood estimation
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , June 1998 , pp. 111 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

This research was mostly supported by the Office of Naval Research (N00014-77-C-0360, N00014-81-C-0569, N00014-87-K-0320, N00014-90-J-1456).

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