Method evidence record

Differential Item Functioning in Educational Testing

Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis is the central statistical tool for evaluating the fairness of test items in education. An item shows DIF when examinees of equal ability but different group membership — for example by gender, race/ethnicity, or language background — have unequal probabilities of answering it correctly. By conditioning on ability before comparing groups, DIF analysis separates genuine item bias from real group differences in proficiency, and flags items for expert review before they affect high-stakes decisions.

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Differential Item Functioning Analysis for Test Fairness in Education

Taxonomic method record · latent-structure / education

Holland, P. W., & Wainer, H. (Eds.). (1993). Differential Item Functioning. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. · ISBN 9780805809725
Dorans, N. J., & Holland, P. W. (1993). DIF detection and description: Mantel-Haenszel and standardization. In P. W. Holland & H. Wainer (Eds.), Differential Item Functioning (pp. 35–66). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. · ISBN 9780805809725

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Related methods

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Taxonomic bucketDifferential Distractor Functioningmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyDifferential Item Functioningmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyItem Response Theorymachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyStandardized Test Analysismachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.