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Test Theory

A Unified Treatment

Test Theory

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This book introduces the reader to the main quantitative concepts, methods, and computational techniques needed for the development, evaluation, and application of tests in the behavioral/social sciences, including educational tests. Two empirical examples are carried throughout to illustrate alternative methods. Other data sets are used for special illustrations. Self-contained programs for confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis are available on the Web.

Intended for students of psychology, particularly educational psychology, as well as social science students interested in how tests are constructed and used, prerequisites include a course on statistics.

The programs and data files for this book can be downloaded from www.psypress.com/test-theory/

Table of Contents

Contents: General Introduction. Items and Item Scores. Item and Test Statistics. The Concept of a Scale. Reliability Theory for Total Test Scores. Test Homogeneity, Reliability, and Generalizability. Reliability--Applications. Prediction and Multiple Regression. The Common Factor Model. Validity. Classical Item Analysis. Item Response Models. Properties of Item Response Models. Multidimensional Item Response Models. Comparing Populations. Alternate Forms and the Problem of Equating. An Introduction to Structural Equation Modeling. Some Scaling Theory. Retrospective. Appendix: Some Rules for Expected Values.

Reviews

"…I would recommend purchasing the book as a reference to consult when teaching a measurement course and conducting measurement research….the book has a great deal of excellent information presented in one source."

—Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science

"An enjoyable aspect of the book is McDonald's refreshing perspective on certain controversial issues….Overall… an interesting…approach to test theory that is likely to be of interest to specialists in this field."

—Journal of the American Statistical Association

"This year I am switching to this excellent book by Roderick McDonald….the text is very sophisticated, but the organization makes it very approachable for all, whether novice or expert….The writing is erudite without being pedantic and there is a sense of humor in the prose."

—Personnel Psychology