Jansen Markus T, Schulze Ralf
University of Wuppertal, Germany.
Educ Psychol Meas. 2024 Aug;84(4):660-690. doi: 10.1177/00131644231205011. Epub 2023 Oct 30.
Thurstonian forced-choice modeling is considered to be a powerful new tool to estimate item and person parameters while simultaneously testing the model fit. This assessment approach is associated with the aim of reducing faking and other response tendencies that plague traditional self-report trait assessments. As a result of major recent methodological developments, the estimation of normative trait scores has become possible in addition to the computation of only ipsative scores. This opened up the important possibility of comparisons between individuals with forced-choice assessment procedures. With item response theory (IRT) methods, a multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format has also been proposed to estimate individual scores. Customarily, items to assess different traits are presented in blocks, often triplets, in applications of the MFC, which is an efficient form of item presentation but also a simplification of the original models. The present study provides a comprehensive review of the present status of Thurstonian forced-choice models and their variants. Critical features of the current models, especially the block models, are identified and discussed. It is concluded that MFC modeling with item blocks is highly problematic and yields biased results. In particular, the often-recommended presentation of blocks with items that are keyed in different directions of a trait proves to be counterproductive considering the goal to reduce response tendencies. The consequences and implications of the highlighted issues are further discussed.
瑟斯顿迫选模型被认为是一种强大的新工具，可用于估计项目和人员参数，同时检验模型拟合度。这种评估方法的目的是减少困扰传统自我报告特质评估的伪装和其他反应倾向。由于最近在方法学上的重大进展，除了计算相对分数外，现在还可以估计规范性特质分数。这为使用迫选评估程序对个体进行比较提供了重要的可能性。利用项目反应理论（IRT）方法，还提出了一种多维迫选（MFC）格式来估计个体分数。通常，在MFC的应用中，用于评估不同特质的项目以组块形式呈现，通常是三个一组，这是一种有效的项目呈现形式，但也是对原始模型的简化。本研究对瑟斯顿迫选模型及其变体的现状进行了全面综述。确定并讨论了当前模型的关键特征，特别是组块模型。研究得出结论，使用项目组块的MFC建模存在很大问题，并会产生有偏差的结果。特别是，考虑到减少反应倾向的目标，经常推荐的呈现具有在特质的不同方向上计分的项目的组块被证明是适得其反的。进一步讨论了突出问题的后果和影响。
