Having a fit: impact of number of items and distribution of data on traditional criteria for assessing IRT's unidimensionality assumption.

Purpose: Confirmatory factor analysis fit criteria typically are used to evaluate the unidimensionality of item banks. This study explored the degree to which the values of these statistics are affected by two characteristics of item banks developed to measure health outcomes: large numbers of items...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quality of Life Research Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 447 - 461
Main Authors: Cook KF, Kallen MA, Amtmann D, Cook, Karon F, Kallen, Michael A, Amtmann, Dagmar
Format: research Journal Article
Published: Springer Nature May2009
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=105492181&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 105492181
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        09629343
        GPQ
      jtl: Quality of Life Research
      issn: 09629343
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: May2009
      vid: 18
      iid: 4
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
      place: New York, New York
    artinfo:
      ui:
        105492181
        105492181
        NLM19294529
        2010239644
        10.1007/s11136-009-9464-4
        NLM19294529
        PMC2746381
        105492181
      ppf: 447
      ppct: 14
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
      tig:
        atl: Having a fit: impact of number of items and distribution of data on traditional criteria for assessing IRT's unidimensionality assumption.
      aug:
        au:
          Cook KF
          Kallen MA
          Amtmann D
          Cook, Karon F
          Kallen, Michael A
          Amtmann, Dagmar
        affil: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Box 357920, Seattle, WA, 98195-7920, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Pain Measurement Methods
          Quality of Life
          Questionnaires
          Self-Efficacy
          Activities of Daily Living
          Adolescence
          Adult
          Aged
          Aged, 80 and Over
          Disability Evaluation
          Factor Analysis
          Female
          Male
          Middle Age
          Treatment Outcomes
          Human
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Aged: 65+ years
          Aged, 80 & over
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: Purpose: Confirmatory factor analysis fit criteria typically are used to evaluate the unidimensionality of item banks. This study explored the degree to which the values of these statistics are affected by two characteristics of item banks developed to measure health outcomes: large numbers of items and nonnormal data.Methods: Analyses were conducted on simulated and observed data. Observed data were responses to the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pain Impact Item Bank. Simulated data fit the graded response model and conformed to a normal distribution or mirrored the distribution of the observed data. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), parallel analysis, and bifactor analysis were conducted.Results: CFA fit values were found to be sensitive to data distribution and number of items. In some instances impact of distribution and item number was quite large.Conclusions: We concluded that using traditional cutoffs and standards for CFA fit statistics is not recommended for establishing unidimensionality of item banks. An investigative approach is favored over reliance on published criteria. We found bifactor analysis to be appealing in this regard because it allows evaluation of the relative impact of secondary dimensions. In addition to these methodological conclusions, we judged the items of the PROMIS Pain Impact bank to be sufficiently unidimensional for item response theory (IRT) modeling.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N