How Much Bias in answer till 3 wrong?

"Terminating the test after answering three consecutive items incorrectly is a common practice with individually-administered intelligence tests. Obviously, treating the not reached items as incorrect (which is the typical interpretation - that the examinee would not have answered any of the remaining items correctly) is not a good idea. This practice results in Rasch ability estimates that are biased. On the other hand, if you treat the data as missing, the bias is not as extreme, but it is still there."

Edward W. Wolfe, Michigan State University

Is this bias a serious problem? Ed Wolfe mentions further that he is doing authoritative simulation studies based on real data. But let's imagine a simple scenario. We have a uniform item bank of Rasch-behaving items. Start by administering an item three logits below the examinee. Then advance up the item bank, administering items equally spaced in difficulty. Stop after three consecutive failures. What examinee measures would we expect to obtain for different items spacings?

The Figure shows the results of a simple simulation study according to these criteria. Values close to -4 logits correspond to no correct answers at all. Although the overall bias is negligible, the impact on individual examinees can be huge! Definitely do not use the "3 error" stopping rule with a test containing closely spaced items!

How Much Bias? Wolfe, E.W., Linacre, J.M. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 2000, 14:2 p.750

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
Rasch Books and Publications: Winsteps and Facets
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	Appliquer le modèle de Rasch: Défis et pistes de solution (Winsteps) E. Dionne, S. Béland
Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets), Thomas Eckes	Rasch Models for Solving Measurement Problems (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Jue Wang	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
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

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