An Introduction to Criterion-referenced Item Analysis and Item Response Theory (英语论文).docVIP

An Introduction to Criterion-referenced Item Analysis and Item Response Theory PAGE 1 PAGE 12 1 An Introduction to Criterion-referenced Item Analysis and Item Response Theory Abstract: Item Analysis (IA) is a term to be used more specifically in the context of classical measurement to refer to the application of statistical techniques to determine the properties of test items, principally item difficulty and item discrimination. The purpose for it is to select which items will remain on future revised and improved versions of the test. Sometimes, item analysis is also performed simply to investigate how well the items on a test are working with a particular group of students, or study which items match the language domain of interest. Item Response Theory (IRT) or latent trait theory, as it has been variously termed, is a general measurement theory developed independently by Birnbaum in the United States and by Rasch in Denmak. It refers to primarily, but not entirely, three families of analytical procedures. These are identified as the one-parameter, the two-parameter and the three-parameter logistic models. What these models have in common is a systematic procedure for considering and quantifying the probability or improbability of individual item and person response patterns given the overall pattern of responses in a set of test data. They also offer new and improved ways for the estimation of item difficulty and person ability. The article is written to illustrate why item analysis and Item Response Theory (IRT) are useful for teachers when they construct tests and examining measurement equivalence. The introduction contains three parts: 1. Criterion or domain-referenced vs. Norm-reference or standardized tests. 2. Item analysis. 3. Item response theory. It will simply show the difference between Criterion-reference Tests (CRT) IA and Norm-referenced Tests IA because of the complication of IRT, it will only introduce the three-parameter model of IRT. Key