A Rasch Critic Answers Himself

Complaint: "Rasch's one-parameter logistic model promised item calibration independent of the sample, and scoring of individuals independent of the set of items on which they have been tested. The implication of strong comparability among scores turned out to be a mirage, not least because the model proved rather fussy about which sorts of data it would fit. As Rasch himself reported in this journal (Rasch, 1966), the model did not work for a verbal analogies test or for an analogue of Raven's matrices, two of the stalwarts of psychometric practice." (p. 182-3)

Desire: "The challenge is to recover the element of surprise - astonishment even - which greeted the developments of the first decades of this century (1900-1909) when effective psychological measurement was first demonstrated. For too long test theory has concerned itself with ever cleverer accounts of unimproved practical effectiveness and not with recommendations as to how to devise more effective tests." (p. 183)

Blinkhorn S.F. (1997) Past imperfect, future conditional: fifty years of test theory. British Jnl of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 50, 175-185.

Comment: The Rasch model specifies ideals toward which constructors of more effective tests must strive. As the model operationalizes these ideals, it is "fussy" about data, and so necessarily criticizes the unimproved "stalwarts of psychometric practice". Nevertheless, Rasch practitioners are continually delighted to discover that apparently incoherent data can be coerced into constructing coherent, useful measures on clearly articulated linear variables.

Blinkhorn, S.F. A Rasch Critic Answers Himself. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 2000, 14:3 p.770

Rasch Publications
Rasch Measurement Transactions (free, online)	Rasch Measurement research papers (free, online)	Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch	Applying the Rasch Model 3rd. Ed., Bond & Fox	Best Test Design, Wright & Stone
Rating Scale Analysis, Wright & Masters	Introduction to Rasch Measurement, E. Smith & R. Smith	Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement, Thomas Eckes	Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, George Engelhard, Jr.	Statistical Analyses for Language Testers, Rita Green
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar	Journal of Applied Measurement	Rasch models for measurement, David Andrich	Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson	Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences, Boone, Stave, Yale
in Spanish:	Análisis de Rasch para todos, Agustín Tristán		Mediciones, Posicionamientos y Diagnósticos Competitivos, Juan Ramón Oreja Rodríguez

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