Partial Measurement Invariance: Extending and Evaluating the Cluster Approach for Identifying Anchor Items.

ABSTRACT: When measurement invariance does not hold, researchers aim for partial measurement invariance by identifying anchor items that are assumed to be measurement invariant. In this paper, we build on Bechger and Maris's approach for identification of anchor items. Instead of identifying differential item functioning (DIF)-free items, they propose to identify different sets of items that are invariant in item parameters within the same item set. We extend their approach by an additional step in order to allow for identification of homogeneously functioning item sets. We evaluate the performance of the extended cluster approach under various conditions and compare its performance to that of previous approaches, that are the equal-mean difficulty (EMD) approach and the iterative forward approach.

SUBMITTER: Pohl S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8640350 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature