标题：EVALUATING THE MULTIPLE-GROUP MEAN AND COVARIANCE STRUCTURE ANALYSIS MODEL FOR THE DETECTION OF DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING IN POLYTOMOUS ORDERED ITEMS
摘要：We use simulated data to evaluate the adequacy of the Multiple-Group (MG) extension of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with Mean and Covariance Structure (MACS) model for the detection of differential item functioning (DIF) in polytomous graded response items. Two factors are varied to generate the DIF conditions: type of DIF (uniform and non-uniform) and size of DIF (low, medium and high). For each condition, 100 samples (N= 800) are generated according to the Graded Response model. Ten items with 5-response categories are considered, and only one item is manipulated to show DIF. The data are analyzed by means of LISREL 8. Results show that the DIF detection procedure analyzed reasonably maintained control of its Type I error under non-uniform DIF conditions, but showed some difficulties under uniform-DIF conditions. With respect to power, the procedure was satisfactory for detecting medium and high uniform DIF, and lacked power for detecting non-uniform DIF.
