Abstract
This article provides a tutorial of differential item functioning (DIF) and reviews DIFPACK, a new software package that is specifically designed to test for the presence of DIF. In addition to testing for standard unidirectional DIF and differential test functioning (DTF) in dichotomous items, DIFPACK allows the user to test for DIF in polytomous items and disordinal, or crossing, DIF. Furthermore, DIFPACK allows the user to test whether a set of items is functioning differentially, known as DTF, which follows the multidimensional item response theory framework for DIF. DIFPACK also includes two related programs: DIFSIM, which enables the user to generate multidimensional dichotomous examinee response data, and DIFCOMP, which enables the user to calculate the amount of theoretical DIF for an item or group of items. The results of this review suggest that DIFPACK fills an important void in the available software for measurement specialists. However, the Windows interface is more awkward than helpful to the user.
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