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Rotating Item Banks versus Restriction of Maximum Exposure Rates in Computerized Adaptive Testing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Juan Ramón Barrada ,
Julio Olea  and
Francisco José Abad
Juan Ramón Barrada*
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (Spain)
Julio Olea
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Francisco José Abad
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan Ramón Barrada, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Spain). Phone: 00 34 93 581 32 63. E-mail: juanramon.barrada@uab.es.
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Abstract

If examinees were to know, beforehand, part of the content of a computerized adaptive test, their estimated trait levels would then have a marked positive bias. One of the strategies to avoid this consists of dividing a large item bank into several sub-banks and rotating the sub-bank employed (Ariel, Veldkamp & van der Linden, 2004). This strategy permits substantial improvements in exposure control at little cost to measurement accuracy. However, we do not know whether this option provides better results than using the master bank with greater restriction in the maximum exposure rates (Sympson & Hetter, 1985). In order to investigate this issue, we worked with several simulated banks of 2100 items, comparing them, for RMSE and overlap rate, with the same banks divided in two, three… up to seven sub-banks. By means of extensive manipulation of the maximum exposure rate in each bank, we found that the option of rotating banks slightly outperformed the option of restricting maximum exposure rate of the master bank by means of the Sympson-Hetter method.

Si los examinandos conocieran de antemano una parte del contenido de un test adaptativo informatizado, sus niveles estimados de rasgo tendrían un marcado sesgo positivo. Una de las estrategias para evitar esto consiste en dividir un gran banco de ítems en varios sub-bancos y rotar el sub-banco empleado (Ariel, Veldkamp & van der Linden, 2004). Esta estrategia permite mejoras sustanciales en el control de la exposición con poca merma de la precisión de la medida. Sin embargo, no sabemos si esta opción proporciona mejores resultados que el uso del banco maestro con más restricción en la tasa máxima de exposición (Sympson & Hetter, 1985). Para investigar este problema, trabajamos con varios bancos simulados de 2100 ítems, comparándolos, en RMSE y en tasa de solapamiento, con los mismos bancos divididos en dos, tres… hasta siete sub-bancos. Mediante manipulación extensa de la tasa máxima de exposición en cada banco, encontramos que la opción de rotar los bancos ofrecía resultados ligeramente mejores que la opción de restringir la tasa máxima de exposición del banco maestro mediante el método Sympson-Hetter.

Keywords

item bank securityoverlap rateaccuracybank rotationSympson-Hetter methodseguridad del banco de ítemstasa de solapamientoprecisiónrotación del bancométodo Sympson-Hetter
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , November 2008 , pp. 618 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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