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Not all DIF is shaped similarly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Paul De Boeck and
Sun-Joo Cho
Paul De Boeck*
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University
Sun-Joo Cho
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
*
Correspondence should be made to Paul De Boeck, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 240 Lazenby Hall, 1827 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Email: deboeck.2@osu.edu
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Abstract

In response to the target article by Teresi et al. (2021), we explain why the article is useful and we also present a different approach. An alternative category of differential item functioning (DIF) is presented with a corresponding way of modeling DIF, based on random person and random item effects and explanatory covariates.

Keywords

differential item functioningexplanatory covariatesrandom effects

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