Schrödinger’s cat and the conception of probability in item response theory

Abstract

Although not presenting novel graphics or commenting on the quality of graphics, this article discusses how three similar-looking graphs can have quite different meanings. If careful interpretation is critical for such familiar graphs, then careful presentation and reading certainly is needed for more involved illustrations of data and models. This work was supported by the National Board of Medical Examiners. In addition, many of the key ideas contained here, as well as some of the explicit facts, were taken from Paul Holland’s 1989 presidential address to the Psychometric Society.