Introduction to Item Response Theory

Slide showing two item characteristic curves (left) show uniform differential item functioning (DIF).

I have been invited several times to deliver a guest lecture on the basics of Item Response Theory for a Social Welfare Advanced Research Methods course at the University of Pennsylvania. In my talk, I discuss the importance of measurement theories, the emergence of Item Response Theory (IRT), a modeling-based approach to measurement, differences between Classical Test Theory and IRT, and applications of IRT in social work research and practice. View my talk slides.