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Modeling Item Responses When Different Subjects Employ Different Solution Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Robert J. Mislevy  and
Norman Verhelst
Robert J. Mislevy*
Affiliation:
Educational Testing Service
Norman Verhelst
Affiliation:
CITO (National Institute for Educational Measurement), Arnhem, The Netherlands
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Robert J. Mislevy, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ 08541.
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Abstract

A model is presented for item responses when different subjects employ different strategies, but only responses, not choice of strategy, can be observed. Using substantive theory to differentiate the likelihoods of response vectors under a fixed set of strategies, we model response probabilities in terms of item parameters for each strategy, proportions of subjects employing each strategy, and distributions of subject proficiency within strategies. The probabilities that an individual subject employed the various strategies can then be obtained, along with a conditional estimate of proficiency under each. A conceptual example discusses response strategies for spatial rotation tasks, and a numerican example resolves a population of subjects into subpopulations of valid responders and random guessers.

Keywords

differential strategiesEM algorithmitem response theorylinear logistic test modelmixture models

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 1990 , pp. 195 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

The first author's work was supported by Contract No. N00014-85-K-0683, project designation NR 150-539, from the Cognitive Science Program, Cognitive and Neural Sciences Division, Office of Naval Research. We are grateful to Murray Aitkin, Isaac Bejar, Neil Dorans, Frederiksen, and Marklyn Wingersky for their comments and suggestions, and to Alison Gooding, Maxine Kingston, Donna Lembeck, Joling Liang, and Kentaro Yamamoto for their assistance with Example 2.

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