The Rasch Debate [electronic resource] : Validity and Revolution in Educational Measurement / William P. Fisher, Jr.
In an address to the National Council on Measurement in Education, R. M. Jaeger (1987) commented that there appears to be a fundamental difference in measurement philosophy between those on the two sides of the debate over the Rasch model. Jaeger's observations are explicated by contrasting the...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1991.
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| Summary: | In an address to the National Council on Measurement in Education, R. M. Jaeger (1987) commented that there appears to be a fundamental difference in measurement philosophy between those on the two sides of the debate over the Rasch model. Jaeger's observations are explicated by contrasting the views on measurement of B. D. Wright and E. F. Lindquist with relation to the interpretation each has of the validation of constructs as considered by C. Cherryholmes (1988). Lindquist conceives of test items as given in an objective reality; the discursive action of construct validation is assumed to take place outside the context in which the construct is manifest. Wright suggests that test items amount to nothing more than guesses about how a construct articulates itself. Instead of objectifying test takers by subjecting them to unquestionable authority, the Rasch approach to test construction suggests that questions are tested by the respondents just as much as the respondents are tested by the questions. It is argued that by recognizing the inevitability of the imposition of political, moral, and aesthetic criteria on test items and data, and by formulating models of how these criteria can be implemented and criticized, the Rasch model and supporters of Wright's position have made a great contribution to measurement. Two tables expand on the discussion. A 133-item list of references is included. (SLD) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED331857. ERIC Note: Paper presented at the International Objective Measurement Workshop (6th, Chicago, IL, April 1991). |
| Physical Description: | 44 p. |