Abstract

The purpose of this research is to first estimate the item and ability parameters and the standard error values related to those parameters obtained from Unidimensional Item Response Theory (UIRT), bifactor (BIF) and Testlet Response Theory models (TRT) in the tests including testlets, when the number of testlets, number of independent items, and sample size change, and then to compare the obtained results. Mathematic test in PISA 2012 was employed as the data collection tool, and 36 items were used to constitute six different data sets containing different numbers of testlets and independent items. Subsequently, from these constituted data sets, three different sample sizes of 250, 500 and 1000 persons were selected randomly. When the findings of the research were examined, it was determined that, generally the lowest mean error values were those obtained from UIRT, and TRT yielded a mean of error estimation lower than that of BIF. It was found that, under all conditions, models which take into consideration the local dependency have provided a better model-data compatibility than UIRT, generally there is no meaningful difference between BIF and TRT, and both models can be used for those data sets. It can be said that when there is a meaningful difference between those two models, generally BIF yields a better result. In addition, it has been determined that, in each sample size and data set, item and ability parameters and correlations of errors of the parameters are generally high.

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