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Quantitative Psychology Research pp 91–111Cite as

Multidimensional IRT Models to Analyze Learning Outcomes of Italian Students at the End of Lower Secondary School

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Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics ((PROMS,volume 89))

Abstract

In this paper, different multidimensional IRT models are compared in order to choose the best approach to explain response data on Italian student assessment at the end of lower secondary school. The results show that the additive model with three specific dimensions (reading comprehension, grammar, and mathematics abilities) and an overall ability is able to recover the test structure meaningfully. In this model, the overall ability compensates for the specific ability (or vice versa) in order to determine the probability of a correct response. Given the item characteristics, the overall ability is interpreted as a reasoning and thinking capability. Model estimation is conducted via Gibbs sampler within a Bayesian approach, which allows the use of Bayesian model comparison techniques such as posterior predictive model checking for model comparison and fit.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been partially funded by the Italian Ministry of Education with the FIRB (“Futuro in ricerca”) 2012 project on “Mixture and latent variable models for causal-inference and analysis of socio-economic data.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Bologna, via Belle Arti 41, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    Mariagiulia Matteucci & Stefania Mignani

Authors
  1. Mariagiulia Matteucci
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  2. Stefania Mignani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mariagiulia Matteucci .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Roger E. Millsap

  2. Dept. of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

    Daniel M. Bolt

  3. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    L. Andries van der Ark

  4. Department of Psychological Studies, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Wen-Chung Wang

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Matteucci, M., Mignani, S. (2015). Multidimensional IRT Models to Analyze Learning Outcomes of Italian Students at the End of Lower Secondary School. In: Millsap, R., Bolt, D., van der Ark, L., Wang, WC. (eds) Quantitative Psychology Research. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 89. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07503-7_6

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