Detecting Differential Item Functioning Using Response Time

Abstract

This study investigated uniform differential item functioning (DIF) detection in response times. We proposed a regression analysis approach with both the working speed and the group membership as independent variables, and logarithm transformed response times as the dependent variable. Effect size measures such as Δ[Formula: see text] and percentage change in regression coefficients in conjunction with the statistical significance tests were used to flag DIF items. A simulation study was conducted to assess the performance of three DIF detection criteria: (a) significance test, (b) significance test with Δ[Formula: see text], and (c) significance test with the percentage change in regression coefficients. The simulation study considered factors such as sample sizes, proportion of the focal group in relation to total sample size, number of DIF items, and the amount of DIF. The results showed that the significance test alone was too strict; using the percentage change in regression coefficients as an effect size measure reduced the flagging rate when the sample size was large, but the effect was inconsistent across different conditions; using Δ R2 with significance test reduced the flagging rate and was fairly consistent. The PISA 2018 data were used to illustrate the performance of the proposed method in a real dataset. Furthermore, we provide guidelines for conducting DIF studies with response time.