Evaluating Intersectional Fairness in Algorithmic Decision Making Using Intersectional Differential Algorithmic Functioning

Youmi Suk and Kyung (Chris) T. Han
Additional contact information
Youmi Suk: Teachers College of Columbia University
Kyung (Chris) T. Han: Graduate Management Admission Council

Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 2025, vol. 50, issue 5, 833-862

Abstract: Ensuring fairness is crucial in developing modern algorithms and tests. To address potential biases and discrimination in algorithmic decision making, researchers have drawn insights from the test fairness literature, notably the work on differential algorithmic functioning (DAF) by Suk and Han. Nevertheless, the exploration of intersectionality in fairness investigations, within both test fairness and algorithmic fairness fields, is still relatively new. In this paper, we propose an extension of the DAF framework to include the concept of intersectionality. Similar to DAF, the proposed notion for intersectionality, which we term “interactive DAF,†leverages ideas from test fairness and algorithmic fairness. We also provide methods based on the generalized Mantel–Haenszel test, generalized logistic regression, and regularized group regression to detect DAF, interactive DAF, or other subtypes of DAF. Specifically, we employ regularized group regression with three different penalties and examine their performance via a simulation study. Finally, we demonstrate our intersectional DAF framework in real-world applications on grade retention and conditional cash transfer programs in education.

Keywords: fairness; intersectionality; discrimination; algorithms; machine learning; decision analysis; differential item functioning; regularized regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/10769986241269820 (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:50:y:2025:i:5:p:833-862

DOI: 10.3102/10769986241269820

Access Statistics for this article

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