The Scandinavian Applied Measurement Conference (SAMC) aims to facilitate interaction and knowledge exchange among researchers, practitioners, and students.

The SAMC theme is applied measurement, focusing on rating scales and other category-based measurement and assessment instruments. Papers on the development, evaluation and quality assurance of such instruments using Rasch measurement theory and related approaches are welcome. Person-centred measurement, which emphasize the role of the individual person in the measurement process and analyses, as well as the use and interpretation of results at the level of the individual person, is encouraged. The conference will be multidisciplinary and cover fields such as the health, social, educational, behavioral, and related sciences.

Abstract submissions open on September 18, 2023.

For more information and updates, please visit the SAMC website: www.hkr.se/samc2024

We are pleased to share the publication of Rasch Measurement Theory Analysis in R. This book provides researchers and practitioners with a step-by-step guide for conducting Rasch measurement theory analyses using R. It includes theoretical introductions to major Rasch measurement principles and techniques, demonstrations of analyses using several R packages that contain Rasch measurement functions, and sample interpretations of results.

Key features of the book include:

• Accessible to users with relatively little experience with R programming
• Reproducible data analysis examples that can be modified to accommodate users’ own data
• Accompanying e-book website with links to additional resources and R code updates as needed
• Features dichotomous and polytomous (rating scale) Rasch models that can be applied to data from a wide range of disciplines

This book applies Rasch measurement theory to the fields of education, psychology, sociology, marketing and health outcomes in order to measure various social constructs. The chief focus is on first principles of both the theory and its applications. Because software is readily available to carry out analyses of real data, numerous small examples are provided in the book. The software used in these examples, and which is helpful in working through the text, is RUMM2030 (Rasch unidimensional models for measurement).

The book's main goals are to equip researchers with the confidence they need in order to be in control of the analysis and interpretation of data, and to make professional rather than primarily statistical decisions mechanically. Because statistical principles are necessarily involved, reviews of the requisite statistics are provided in the Appendix.

The content is based on courses that have been taught both online and in intensive form for over two decades. Although first principles are emphasised, much of the book is based on research conducted by the two authors and their colleagues.