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Detection of DIF with difNLR package

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Education |
2018

Abstract

The R package difNLR (Drabinová, Martinková & Zvára, 2018) has been developed for detection of Differential Item Functioning (DIF), based on extensions of logistic regression model. These include guessing and non-attention parameters which can differ for different groups.

For dichotomous data, eleven predefined models have been implemented, however, user can constraint some parameters to be the same for different groups and hence create wide range of models that can be seen as proxies for item response theory models. The difNLR package offers various methods for estimation of parameters and DIF detection procedure.

It also covers procedures in DIF identification such as item purification or corrections for multiple comparisons. Moreover, simulation studies suggest good properties even in smaller samples (Drabinová & Martinková, 2017), and thus the family of models offered by the difNLR library seems to be promising in DIF detection.