Impact of Differential-Item-Functioning on the Personal Epistemological Beliefs for Senior High School Students
Abstract
Abstract. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the expression of items used to examine personal epistemological beliefs could affect the probabilities of response for compared groups and research outcomes. Differential-item-functioning (DIF) analysis on school types and location of school according to the Rasch model was performed in this study. Nonacademically inclined school students (n = 212) and academically inclined school students (n = 197) were selected to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three dimensions of beliefs about knowing and two dimensions of beliefs about learning. The results of the DIF analysis suggested that the items in the dimensions about knowing favor academically inclined students and students from schools located in the northern areas of Taiwan. The items in the learning dimensions favor nonacademically inclined students and students from schools located in the southern areas of Taiwan. The group comparisons were different between the scale that included the DIF items and the scale that excluded the DIF items. The discussion addresses the value of the precise detections for inappropriate items and the effect of the academic achievement on completing the survey.
References
2005). The relationship between epistemological beliefs, implicit theories of intelligence, and self-regulated learning among Norwegian post-secondary students. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 539–565.
(2005). Epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning: Their change through secondary school and their influence on academic performance. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 203–221.
(2010). Implicit theories of ability of Grade 6 science students: Relation to epistemological beliefs and academic motivation and achievement in science. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35, 75–87.
(2009). The theory and practice of item response theory. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.
(2008). The challenge of measuring epistemic beliefs: An analysis of three self-report instruments. The Journal of Experimental Education, 76, 281–312.
(2001). Measures of people’s beliefs about knowledge and learning. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 419–449.
(2006). Good practices for identifying differential item functioning. Medical Care, 44, 182–188.
(1997). The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowledge and their relation to learning. Review of Educational Research, 67, 88–140.
(1988).
(Differential item functioning and the Mantel-Haenszel procedure . In H. WainerH. I. BraunEds., Test validity (pp. 129–145). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.1999). Gender DIF/DBF Analysis: Application of poly-SIBTEST. Psychological Testing, 46, 45–60.
(1980). Application of item response theory to practical testing problems. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2004). Research of the hairdressing industry’s demands for the vocational high school and junior college graduate students’ professional competencies. Kaohsiung Normal University Journal, 17, 115–137.
(1982). Contingency table models for assessing item bias. Journal of Educational Statistics, 7, 105–118.
(2009). Differential item functioning (2nd ed.). CA: Sage.
(2012). The relationships among job satisfaction, professional commitment and organizational commitment of college students enroll in intern practice course. Chung Yuan Physical Educational Journal, 1, 95–104.
(1968). Patterns of development in thought and values of students in a liberal arts college: A validation of a scheme (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 024315). Cambridge, MA: Bureau of Study Counsel, Harvard University.
(1988). The area between two item characteristic curves. Psychometrika, 53, 495–502.
(2012). Item bias analysis of the Young Schema-Questionnaire for psychopathology, gender, and educational level. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 27, 65–70.
(2013). A systematic review of methodology for person fit research in Item Response Theory: Lessons about generalizability of inferences from the design of simulation studies. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, 55, 3–38.
(1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 498–504.
(2005). Epistemological beliefs, Mathematical problem-solving beliefs, and academic performance of middle school students. The Elementary School Journal, 105, 289–304.
(1993). Model-based standardization approach that separates true bias/DIF from group ability differences and detects test bias/DIF as well as item bias/DIF. Psychometrika, 58, 159–194.
(2010). Developing and validating the personal Epistemological Beliefs Scale for senior high school students in Taiwan. Psychological Testing, 57, 433–458.
(1990). Detecting differential item functioning using logistic regression procedures. Journal of Educational Measurement, 27, 361–370.
(2009). Elementary students’ metacognition and epistemological beliefs considering science achievement, gender and socioeconomic status. Elementary Education Online, 8, 676–693.
(2007). Epistemological beliefs, school achievement, and college major: A large-scale longitudinal study on impact of certain beliefs. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32, 348–366.
(2009). Item response theory. Taiwan, Taipei: Psychological Publishing.
(