Generating Truth from Fiction

Generating truth from fiction. Fisher WP Jr. … 8:4 p.401

The wisdom of creative Rasch measurement is the same as that which Milan Kundera calls the "wisdom of the [literary] novel ... the fascinating imaginative realm where no one owns the truth and everyone has the right to be understood" (quoted by Richard Rorty in the April 1994 University of Chicago Magazine, p. 23).

Data appear to be facts, just as words appear to be facts. In unimaginative practice, tests are taken to define the variable in and of themselves, so no imaginative realm is opened up. Test content is considered sacrosanct, of predetermined validity, so the truth of a test is owned by whomever wrote or published it. These same people are the only ones who have the right to be understood, since they set the rules, referee and control the scoreboard.

But just as a novel, the world we construct from words, is a fiction, so is the world we construct from data. Data are fictions that provide evidence in support of measures, but do not determine or prove them. To the extent that data enable learning about people and ideas, they open fascinating imaginative realms.

No one, not even the test designer nor the person with the highest measure, can know all there is to know about the variable. The variable and the measures always remain open to new interpretations. Indeed, the notion of item-free measurement could be taken to follow from the intuition that the universe of items embodying a particular construct is not only potentially infinite, but continuously revealing.

Since it is impossible to administer or even conceive all of the items on a variable, we must recognize that each individual instrument is just one interpretation of the variable, to be evaluated in terms of its targeting and the consistency of the data it produces. Data consistency becomes the means by which everyone's right to be heard and understood is realized.

So, imaginative interpretation of a Rasch analysis is a matter of asking what story is told by the data. What's the plot? Who are the characters? What's the setting? Is there a subplot? Is there a single overall theme, or does the story try to go in too many directions at once? Thus, as with the careful construction of a work of fiction, contemporary problems can become more manageable and hope for the future can be born.


Generating truth from fiction. Fisher WP Jr. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1995, 8:4 p.401



Rasch-Related Resources: Rasch Measurement YouTube Channel
Rasch Measurement Transactions & Rasch Measurement research papers - free An Introduction to the Rasch Model with Examples in R (eRm, etc.), Debelak, Strobl, Zeigenfuse Rasch Measurement Theory Analysis in R, Wind, Hua Applying the Rasch Model in Social Sciences Using R, Lamprianou El modelo métrico de Rasch: Fundamentación, implementación e interpretación de la medida en ciencias sociales (Spanish Edition), Manuel González-Montesinos M.
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch Rasch Models for Measurement, David Andrich Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson Best Test Design - free, Wright & Stone
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Virtual Standard Setting: Setting Cut Scores, Charalambos Kollias Diseño de Mejores Pruebas - free, Spanish Best Test Design A Course in Rasch Measurement Theory, Andrich, Marais Rasch Models in Health, Christensen, Kreiner, Mesba Multivariate and Mixture Distribution Rasch Models, von Davier, Carstensen
Rasch Books and Publications: Winsteps and Facets
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Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets), Thomas Eckes Rasch Models for Solving Measurement Problems (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Jue Wang Statistical Analyses for Language Testers (Facets), Rita Green Invariant Measurement with Raters and Rating Scales: Rasch Models for Rater-Mediated Assessments (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Stefanie Wind Aplicação do Modelo de Rasch (Português), de Bond, Trevor G., Fox, Christine M
Exploring Rating Scale Functioning for Survey Research (R, Facets), Stefanie Wind Rasch Measurement: Applications, Khine Winsteps Tutorials - free
Facets Tutorials - free
Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets) - free, J.M. Linacre Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment (Winsteps, Facets), McNamara, Knoch, Fan

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