The Promising Advantages of Rasch

Investigations of many of the constructs studied in counseling psychology rely on the development of scales. Typically, scale development involves summing Likert-type items to yield a score that represents the degree to which the construct being measured is present in the respondent (Dawis, 1987). Validation may involve examination of factor structure and associations with related constructs. There are, however, exciting developments in psychometrics that may drastically improve our assessment of individuals. Fox & Jones (1998) have described and illustrated the Rasch modeling approach to scaling, which is based on item-response theory. Rasch modeling involves assessing the probability of endorsing any option on each item as a function of the item's endorsability and the respondent's agreeability, whereas classical test theory does not disentangle endorsability from agreeability. As discussed by Fox & Jones, Rasch modeling allows for generalizability across samples and items, takes into account that response options may not be psychologically equally spaced, allows for testing of unidimensionality, produces an ordered set of items, and identifies poorly functioning items as well as unexpected responses. Each of these characteristics becomes a potential advantage to be exploited.

Rasch modeling is new to the field of counseling psychology, and only time will determine whether the advantages are sufficient to warrant use. However, several of the advantages appear promising. For example, the ability to identify unexpected results has research and clinical applications. In classical test models, outliers are identified by extreme scores, but we take scores in the middle ranges to be acceptable, as long as the instrument has generally been shown to be reliable. Rasch modeling would identify a research participant who had responded randomly to the instrument (therefore scoring near the mean) or idiosyncratically to a few items. Similarly, clinicians using scales designed on the basis of Rasch modeling could identify clients who responded unexpectedly (and without resort to separate scales, such as is the case with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory).

Bruce E. Wampold in "Necessary (but not sufficient) innovation: comment on Fox & Jones", Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1998 45:1 46-49.

Dawis RV. 1987. Scale construction. ibid. 34, 481-489.

Fox CM, Jones JA. 1998. Uses of Rasch modeling in counseling psychology research. ibid. 45:1, 30-45.

Wampold BE The Promising Advantages of Rasch … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1999, 13:2 p. 695

Rasch Books and Publications
Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, 2nd Edn. George Engelhard, Jr. & Jue Wang	Applying the Rasch Model (Winsteps, Facets) 4th Ed., Bond, Yan, Heene	Advances in Rasch Analyses in the Human Sciences (Winsteps, Facets) 1st Ed., Boone, Staver	Advances in Applications of Rasch Measurement in Science Education, X. Liu & W. J. Boone	Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences (Winsteps) Boone, Staver, Yale
Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets), Thomas Eckes	Statistical Analyses for Language Testers (Facets), Rita Green	Invariant Measurement with Raters and Rating Scales: Rasch Models for Rater-Mediated Assessments (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Stefanie Wind	Aplicação do Modelo de Rasch (Português), de Bond, Trevor G., Fox, Christine M	Appliquer le modèle de Rasch: Défis et pistes de solution (Winsteps) E. Dionne, S. Béland
Exploring Rating Scale Functioning for Survey Research (R, Facets), Stefanie Wind	Rasch Measurement: Applications, Khine	Winsteps Tutorials - free Facets Tutorials - free	Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets) - free, J.M. Linacre	Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment (Winsteps, Facets), McNamara, Knoch, Fan
Other Rasch-Related Resources: Rasch Measurement YouTube Channel
Rasch Measurement Transactions & Rasch Measurement research papers - free	An Introduction to the Rasch Model with Examples in R (eRm, etc.), Debelak, Strobl, Zeigenfuse	Rasch Measurement Theory Analysis in R, Wind, Hua	Applying the Rasch Model in Social Sciences Using R, Lamprianou	El modelo métrico de Rasch: Fundamentación, implementación e interpretación de la medida en ciencias sociales (Spanish Edition), Manuel González-Montesinos M.
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar	Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch	Rasch Models for Measurement, David Andrich	Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson	Best Test Design - free, Wright & Stone Rating Scale Analysis - free, Wright & Masters
Virtual Standard Setting: Setting Cut Scores, Charalambos Kollias	Diseño de Mejores Pruebas - free, Spanish Best Test Design	A Course in Rasch Measurement Theory, Andrich, Marais	Rasch Models in Health, Christensen, Kreiner, Mesba	Multivariate and Mixture Distribution Rasch Models, von Davier, Carstensen

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