Differential Item Functioning Magnitude and Impact Measures From Item Response Theory Models

Abstract

Measures of magnitude and impact of differential item functioning (DIF) at the item and scale level, respectively are presented and reviewed in this paper.  Most measures are based on item response theory models. Magnitude refers to item level effect sizes, whereas impact refers to differences between groups at the scale score level. Reviewed are magnitude measures based on group differences in the expected item scores and impact measures based on differences in the expected scale scores.  The similarities among these indices are demonstrated. Various software packages are described that provide magnitude and impact measures, and new software presented that computes all of the available statistics conveniently in one program with explanations of their relationships to one another.