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Quantitative Psychology Brownbag

Ohio State seal
Mon, November 21, 2022
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Psychology Building, Room 35

Dr. Natasha Bowen & Dr. Gerald Bean
College of Social Work
The Ohio State University

Title: Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Item Response Theory as Complementary Approaches to Scale Development 

Abstract: Proponents of CFA and IRT often use their preferred approach to the exclusion of the other. The presenters see this reliance on one method as a lost opportunity to enhance the validity argument for the use of scales in research and in practice settings. Drs. Bean and Bowen illustrate how CFA and IRT can be used in combination to provide more complete information on the functioning of scales and their individual items. The presentation will demonstrate ways that corresponding elements of CFA and IRT results can increase confidence in the quality of scales; for example, model fit statistics, dimensionality information, CFA factor loadings and IRT slope parameters, CFA thresholds and IRT response category probabilities. The presentation will also demonstrate how statistics unique to each approach contribute to a comprehensive evaluation of scales; for example, CFA correlated errors and scale reliability, and IRT conditional reliabilities and scale information values. The presenters will highlight how analysis results inform scale improvement efforts. 

 Drs. Bean and Bowen teach measurement topics in PhD statistics courses in the Colleges of Education and Social Work. The scales they test are designed for both research and practice applications in schools and social work setting. In addition to research uses, scores from the scales evaluated by the presenters are used to make decisions about, for example, the educational opportunities of students and the mental health treatments of individuals of all ages. Therefore, the more comprehensive validity argument provided by complementary use of CFA and IRT is all the more critical.

 

 Reading

Bean, G. J. & Bowen, N. K. (2021). Item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis: Complementary approaches for scale development. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 18(6), 509-618.