An Adventure in Diploma-cy

"I've talked the talk. Can I walk the walk?". This thought strikes me as I peruse the prospectus of the Institute for Objective Measurement's "Diplomate of Measurement". The requirements don't seem too arduous, and one can never have enough letters after one's name! So I extract the $150. fee out of my piggy bank and start to work my way down the "Procedures of Certification ...".

Current membership in IOM? Yes, I've sent in my $80 renewal fee. A Master's degree or higher ...? I hope the closure of the University of Chicago's Department of Education doesn't invalidate my degrees. Two years of experience ...? Surely all the time I've spent adding features to Winsteps counts! Two completed papers, ...? Ouch! Should I also tell them about all those half-finished papers with long-past due dates? Submit a completed application? That looks straight-forward. Current employer? Sure. Previous employer? Now who was that? Analyze two ... data sets: Multiple-choice test data, Survey data, Performance assessment data? A slam-dunk! MCQs aren't in my heritage, so its Survey data and Performance assessment.

In a few days, the data sets arrive. Naively, I budget 3 or 4 hours to wrap up the analysis, with maybe a couple more to write the reports. But then the first computer output appears. There are some odd features. Three days later, the analyses still do not make proper sense. Time to move on to other things.

An email message arrives from Val Lober, IOM Manager. "You have 3 months in which to complete your analyses. Only two weeks are left!" A glance at my calendar, and despair sets in. But July 4th. is on Wednesday! The world will stop for a week.

Monday, July 2nd, finds me sweating over the Survey Analysis. Tuesday, July 3rd, Performance Assessment has me in its grips. At 6 p.m., my report is in the Federal Express delivery system, guaranteed to arrive before my 3-month deadline date of July 6th. Relief! But now for the wait ... Dear expert examiners, do not let me bias your ratings! Only the boldest and the best deserve to be honored with the accolade of Diplomate of Measurement. But you may be able to recognize my report. Is the last page missing? Then it was still in my printer as the FedEx truck drove away.

Start your own Diploma adventure at www.rasch.org.

John Michael Linacre

An Adventure in Diploma-cy. Linacre J.M. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 2001, 15:1 p.791

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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