Item-Specific Factors in IRTree Models: When They Matter and When They Don’t

Abstract

Lyu et al. (Psychometrika, 2023) demonstrated that item-specific factors can cause spurious effects on the structural parameters of IRTree models for multiple nested response processes per item. Here, we discuss some boundary conditions and argue that person selection effects on item parameters are not unique to item-specific factors and that the effects presented by Lyu et al. (Psychometrika, 2023) may not generalize to the family of IRTree models as a whole. We conclude with the recommendation that IRTree model specification should be guided by theoretical considerations, rather than driven by data, in order to avoid misinterpretations of parameter differences.