Real and Artificial Differential Item Functioning

David Andrich and Curt Hagquist
Additional contact information
David Andrich: The University of Western Australia
Curt Hagquist: Karlstad University, Sweden

Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 2012, vol. 37, issue 3, 387-416

Abstract: The literature in modern test theory on procedures for identifying items with differential item functioning (DIF) among two groups of persons includes the Mantel–Haenszel (MH) procedure. Generally, it is not recognized explicitly that if there is real DIF in some items which favor one group, then as an artifact of this procedure, artificial DIF that favors the other group is induced in the other items. Using the Rasch model for dichotomous responses as a theoretical basis, this article proves that the source of artificial DIF in the MH procedure is that estimates of the person locations are substituted for their unknown values. The article then demonstrates that the formalization of artificial DIF implies mathematically (a) a particular sequential, iterative procedure for detecting items with real DIF and for identifying a set of items that may have no DIF and (b) a resolution of the items with real DIF for quantifying the DIF on the same metric as the items showing no DIF and provides expected value curves and tests of fit for the item for each of the groups. Finally, because the source of artificial DIF in the MH procedure is the substitution of a parameter with its estimate, it is suggested that all procedures that use the substitution of an estimate for a parameter are likely to induce artificial DIF.

Keywords: differential item functioning; Rasch models; Mantel–Haenszel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/1076998611411913 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:37:y:2012:i:3:p:387-416

DOI: 10.3102/1076998611411913

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().