This study was performed to show advantages of Item Response THeory (IRT) over Classical Test Theory (CTT). Item Response THeory is a complex theory with many applications. This study used one application, test analysis. Ten items from a social psychology midterm were analyzed in order to show how IRT is more accurate than CTT, because IRT has the ability to add and delete individual items. Also, IRT features the Item Characteristic Curve (ICC) to give an easy to read interpretation of the results. The results showed the levels of the three indexes, item discrimination, difficulty, and guessing. The results indicated in which area each item was weak or strong. With this information, suggestions can be made to improve the item and ultimately improve the measurement accuracy of the entire test. Classical Test Theory cannot do this on individual item basis without changing the accuracy of the entire test. The results of this study confirm that IRT can be used to analyze individual items and allow for the improvement or revision of the item. This means IRT can be used for test analysis in a more efficient and accurate manner than CTT. This study provides an introduction to Item Response Theory in the hopes that more research will be performed to establish IRT as a commonly used tool for improving testing measurement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-1280 |
| Date | 01 January 2001 |
| Creators | Inman, Robin F. |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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