The use of item response theory in personality assessment

Anke Weekers
Department of Research Methodology, Measurement, and Data Analysis (OMD)
Twente University

Project: Project financed by NWO

Project running from: 15 August 2005 – 15 August 2009

Supervisors: Prof. dr C.A.W. Glas, dr R.R. Meijer, dr ir B.P. Veldkamp

Summary:
This project focuses on application of item response theory (IRT) in the context of personality measurement and clinical assessment in psychology. On theoretical grounds, compared to classical test theory application of IRT will result in a substantial improvement of the precision and reliability, and can support much more flexible test administration procedures. Two topics will be addressed.

• Existing studies suggest that it is unclear which IRT modesl best describe personality data. Therefore, it will be investigated which IRT models are best suited to describe personality data and which item characteristics determine the fit of an IRT model.
• It will be investigated empirically whether IRT can indeed improve classification decisions in the personality domain.

Date of defence:  16 December 2009

Title of thesis:  Modeling typical performance measures