EPSE 684 | Item Response Theory

EPSE 684 is an advanced level course on educational and psychological measurement which focuses primarily on item response theory (IRT). The course focuses on providing a foundation for understanding modeling item responses using IRT, applying IRT to different measurement problems, and examining its uses in research literature.  Using software packages is an integral part of studying and using IRT models and the course dedicates portions of class times to learning and using an IRT estimation package. The students in this course will:

• examine fundamentals of item response theory
• study a variety of IRT models
• study applications of these models to different measurement problems
• develop skills necessary to model responses for dichotomous and polytomous items, to calibrate responses from such items, and interpret item and examinee parameter estimates
• identify and examine current issues and publications in IRT
• identify a research question of interest they would like to investigate
• conduct analyses and prepare a research paper to examine their research question

Prerequisites: Successful completion of EPSE 528 or an introductory level measurement course