OBJECTIVES To demonstrate the use of Rasch analysis by assessing the appropriateness of utilizing the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) total score (HADS-14) as a measure of psychological distress. DESIGN Cross-sectional, using Rasch analysis. METHODS The HADS was administered to 296 patients attending an out-patient musculoskeletal rehabilitation program. Rasch analysis was cond...

The purpose of this study was to determine if the characteristics of the optimal categorization identified by the Rasch analysis in a previous study can be maintained when the revised scale is applied to the same population. Based on the results of the previous Rasch analysis, a 23-item exercise barrier scale was modified from its original five-category structure ("Very often" = 1, "Often" = 2,...

Since the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) was designed to assess skill differences among test-takers at all points along the ability continuum, rather than to determine cutoff scores, it is important to examine the extent to which the instrument assesses what it is intended to measure (validity) as well as the extent to which the test is consistent (reliability) in measuring ELL...

The Knowledge Component (KC) picture of learning has proven useful for constructing models of student learning in a number of subject areas. However, it is still unclear how well this picture generalizes to other contexts and subject areas. A corpus of 62,000 exercises for 10 textbooks on the Mastering platform has been tagged by content experts. In this report, I introduce a strategy for inves...

In many countries, an athlete’s performance at sporting competitions is often used as part of the selection criteria for entry into college. These criteria could be biased depending upon the procedures utilized by the authorities in a particular country. The purpose of this study was to calibrate, by using the Rasch rating scale model, the judge-based weights associated with the different quali...

This paper presents a test for measuring the C language knowledge of a software developer. The test was grounded with a web experiment comprising 151 participants. Their background ranged from pupils to professional developers. The resulting variable is based on the Rasch Model. Therefore single questions as well as the entire test could be assessed. The paper describes the experiment, the appl...

Two procedures for Rasch, sample-free, item calibration are reviewed and compared for accuracy. Andersen's (1972) theoretically' ideal "conditional" procedure is impractical for calibrating more than 10 or 15 items. A simplified alternative procedure for conditional estimation practical for 20 or 30 items which produces equivalent estimates is developed. When more than 30 items are analyzed rec...

This study compares the statistical methods employed for detecting underachievement, specifically the simple difference method, the regression method and the Rasch method. A sample of 1182 firstand second-year secondary students from 8 high schools in the province of Alicante participated in the study. The results showed a percentage of underachieving students that varies from 14.55% to 30.37%,...

An applied Information Technology (IT) course that is assessed using pen and paper may sound incongruous but it is symptomatic of the state of high-stakes assessment in jurisdictions such as Western Australia. Whereas technology has permeated most aspects of modern life, including schooling, and more has been demanded of education systems in terms of outcomes and participation, methods of summa...

Copyright © 2013 Carlo Andrea Pensavalle, Giuliana Solinas. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2013 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of th...