DIF ANALYSES WITH MANIFEST AND LATENT GROUPS: ANALYSES OF PISA 2012 MATHEMATICS DATA FROM TURKEY

Year 2017, Volume: 8 , 103 - 106, 10.12.2017

Tugba Karadavut

Abstract

Differential item functioning (DIF) indicates
existence of items in a test on which different groups of examinees perform
differentially. The groups in DIF analyses are typically designated based on
their manifest characteristics such as gender and ethnicity. Previous research
showed that, examinees of a manifest group may not be homogeneous on the
dimension that is actually causing DIF. That is, the manifest groups have a
weak relationship with the latent groups that explicit true differential
performance on items. In this study, DIF items on the basis of gender were
identified for PISA 2012 mathematics data from Turkish subsample. Then, latent
groups in the subsample were estimated in order to detect the true groups that
perform differentially.

Keywords

Differential item functioning, DIF, item response theory, IRT, likelihood ratio test, manifest DIF, latent DIF

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