Skip to main content

General Equating Theory Background

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Applying Test Equating Methods

Part of the book series: Methodology of Educational Measurement and Assessment ((MEMA))

  • 1220 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter provides a general overview of equating and offers a conceptual and formal mathematical definition of equating. The roles of random variables, probability distributions, and parameters in the equating statistical problem are described. Different data collection designs are introduced, and an overview of some of the equating methods that will be described throughout the book is also presented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    It is enough to consider test forms to be parallel if they measure the same attribute in a different way, for instance, by using different items. A more technical definition of parallel forms can be found in Lord (1964).

  2. 2.

    In practice such difference should be small (Braun and Holland 1982, p. 16).

References

  • Albano, A. D. (2016). equate: An R package for observed-score linking and equating. Journal of Statistical Software, 74(8), 1–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, B., Bränberg, K., & Wiberg, M. (2013). Performing the kernel method of test equating with the package kequate. Journal of Statistical Software, 55(6), 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angoff, W. H. (1971). Scales, norms and equivalent scores. In R. L. Thorndike (Ed.), Educational measurement (2nd ed., pp. 508–600). Washington, DC: American Council on Education. (Reprinted as Angoff WH (1984). Scales, Norms and Equivalent Scores. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Battauz, M. (2015). equateIRT: an R package for IRT test equating. Journal of Statistical Software, 68(7), 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, H., & Holland, P. (1982). Observed-score test equating: a mathematical analysis of some ETS equating procedures. In P. Holland & D. Rubin (Eds.), Test equating (Vol. 1, pp. 9–49). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, R. P. (2012). mirt: A multidimensional item response theory package for the R environment. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(6), 1–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, D. R., & Hinkley, D. V. (1974). Theoretical statistics. London, UK: Chapman and Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorans, N., & Holland, P. (2000). Population invariance and the equatability of tests: Basic theory and the linear case. Journal of Educational Measurement, 37(4), 281–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dorans, N. J., Pommerich, M., & Holland, P. W. (2007). Linking and aligning scores and scales. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, K., & MacEachern, S. (2008). Nonparametric Bayesian modelling for item response. Statistical Modelling, 8(1), 41–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. A. (1922). On the mathematical foundations of theoretical statistics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 222, 309–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • González, J. (2014). SNSequate: Standard and nonstandard statistical models and methods for test equating. Journal of Statistical Software, 59(7), 1–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González, J., Barrientos, A. F., & Quintana, F. A. (2015a). A dependent Bayesian nonparametric model for test equating. In R. Millsap, D. Bolt, L. van der Ark, & W.-C. Wang (Eds.), Quantitative psychology research (pp. 213–226). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • González, J., Barrientos, A. F., & Quintana, F. A. (2015). Bayesian nonparametric estimation of test equating functions with covariates. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 89, 222–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • González, J., & von Davier, M. (2013). Statistical models and inference for the true equating transformation in the context of local equating. Journal of Educational Measurement, 50(3), 315–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haberman, S. J. (2015). Pseudo-equivalent groups and linking. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 40(3), 254–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, P., & Rubin, D. (1982). Test equating. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolen, M., & Brennan, R. (2014). Test equating, scaling, and linking: Methods and practices (3rd ed.). New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston, S. A. (2004). Equating test scores (without IRT). Princeton, NJ: ETS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord, F. (1964). Nominally and rigorously parallel test forms. Psychometrika, 29(4), 335–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, F. (1980). Applications of item response theory to practical testing problems. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyrén, P.-E., & Hambleton, R. K. (2011). Consequences of violated equating assumptions under the equivalent groups design. International Journal of Testing, 11(4), 308–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCullagh, P. (2002). What is a statistical model? (with discussion). The Annals of Statistics, 30, 1225–1310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miyazaki, K., & Hoshino, T. (2009). A Bayesian semiparametric item response model with Dirichlet process priors. Psychometrika, 74(3), 375–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, N. S., Kolen, M. J., & Hoover, H. D. (1989). Scaling, norming, and equating. Educational Measurement, 3, 221–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2016). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizopoulos, D. (2006). ltm: An R package for latent variable modeling and item response theory analyses. Journal of Statistical Software, 17(5), 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • San Martín, E., Jara, A., Rolin, J.-M., & Mouchart, M. (2011). On the Bayesian nonparametric generalization of IRT-type models. Psychometrika, 76(3), 385–409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sansivieri, V., & Wiberg, M. (2017). IRT observed-score with the non-equivalent groups with covariates design. In L. A. van der Ark, M. Wiberg, S. A. Culpepper, J. A. Douglas, & W.-C. Wang (Eds.), Quantitative psychology – 81st annual meeting of the psychometric society, Asheville, North Carolina, 2016. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schervish, M. J. (1995). Theory of statistics. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinharay, S., Haberman, S., Holland, P., & Lewis, C. (2012). A note on the choice of an anchor test in equating. ETS Research Report Series, 2012(2), i–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsiatis, A. (2007). Semiparametric theory and missing data. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Linden, W. J. (2011). Local observed-score equating. In A. von Davier (Ed.), Statistical models for test equating, scaling, and linking (pp. 201–223). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Davier, A. (2011). Statistical models for test equating, scaling, and linking. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • von Davier, A. A., Holland, P., & Thayer, D. (2004). The kernel method of test equating. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallin, G., & Wiberg, M. (2017). Non-equivalent groups with covariates design using propensity scores for kernel equating. In L. A. van der Ark, M. Wiberg, S. A. Culpepper, J. A. Douglas, & W.-C. Wang (Eds.), Quantitative psychology – 81st annual meeting of the psychometric society, Asheville, North Carolina, 2016. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiberg, M., & Bränberg, K. (2015). Kernel equating under the non-equivalent groups with covariates design. Applied Psychological Measurement, 39(5), 349–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiberg, M., & González, J. (2016). Statistical assessment of estimated transformations in observed-score equating. Journal of Educational Measurement, 53(1), 106–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiberg, M., van der Linden, W. J., & von Davier, A. A. (2014). Local observed-score kernel equating. Journal of Educational Measurement, 51, 57–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilk, M., & Gnanadesikan, R. (1968). Probability plotting methods for the analysis of data. Biometrika, 55(1), 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

González, J., Wiberg, M. (2017). General Equating Theory Background. In: Applying Test Equating Methods. Methodology of Educational Measurement and Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51824-4_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51824-4_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51822-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51824-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics