Abstract
The objective of this study is to provide comparative information on two software programs- IRTPRO version 2.1 for Windows and BMIRT. In educational measurement, software programs are being developed and updated rapidly. By using a small-scale simulation study on a two-parameter logistic model in multidimensional item response theory, this study is to examine the bias values and root mean square error values produced by both programs. Other than item parameter recovery, the comparisons about run time and user interface were also made. The results showed that BMIRT was better in estimating item slope parameters. However, in terms of run time, it is much slower than IRTPRO. In addition, IRTPROâs interface is much more user friendly than BMIRTâs. Screenshots of conducting item calibrations for both programs are in Appendix A.
Highlights
In terms of run time, IRTPRO is notably faster than BMIRT
The findings showed that BMIRT software had the advantage of producing smaller magnitude on bias, but it had longer run time
Yavuz1and Hambleton [25] compared BMIRT program and flexMIRT program. They found that the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm embedded in BMIRT program was much slower than the Bock-Aitkin expectation-maximization algorithm (BA-EM) algorithm embedded in flexMIRT program when estimating multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models
Summary
Studies related to software programs often appear on journals in the format of a short review or software note [3,4]. The content of such studies consists of information on estimation methods, the associated code, and/or screenshots taken from the program interface. The review summarized the user guide of IRTPRO program. It highlighted the parameterization in the nominal response models. Schwarz [3] wrote a review for Bayesian Multivariate IRT Toolkit (BMIRT, developed by [7]). The results from the comparisons may benefit the practitioners who employ multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models
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