Application of Rasch Measurement Model in Establishing Roles Hierarchy for Malaysian Building Surveying Graduates

Despite the rising demand for the building surveying services in the current market, the function of this profession is generally still misunderstood. Hence, this paper attempts to identify the hierarchy and potential roles that can be offered by building surveying graduates in order to provide the acceptable roles in the Malaysian construction industry. A quantitative research approach has been adopted to achieve this study’s objective with close-ended questionnaires have been developed and administered to 136 professional building surveyors who are registered with the Building Surveying Division, Royal Institution of Surveyor Malaysia. The retrieved data were analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistic for the respondents’ demographic data and the Rasch measurement model that applied the Winsteps version 3.70 software in order to analyse the data on reliability, item fit, and item measure for roles hierarchy. The result of the study shows that the roles hierarchy consisted of 29 essential tasks a graduate should deal with in order to thrive in the labour market after graduation. Correspondingly, building maintenance and conservation, building control administration, building inspection, risk management and building audit, building works and quality, and building insurance are the essential roles there are based on the hierarchy level that has been extracted by the six components. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the Malaysia context, in particular for the general international building surveying community as it reveals a roles hierarchy that graduates are required to perform, and where it will provide awareness on the existence of the building surveying vocation among other the non-allied construction professionals in Malaysia.

Validity and Reliability of Green Competencies Instrument for Automobile Technology Programme Using Rasch Model

This article aims to determine the validity of developed constructs and check the reliability of the newly developed instrument named as Questionnaire on Green Competencies for Automobile Engineering Technology (QGCAET) for the Automobile Technology Programme in Nigerian Universities. The instrument consists of 170 elements measuring four constructs namely Technical Green Competencies; Managerial Green Competencies; Personal Green Competencies and Social Green Competencies and was administered to 299 respondents made of Lecturers, Technologists and Final- Year Students of Automobile Engineering and Technology programme in Nigeria universities. The Rasch model was used to examine the validity and reliability of the items. From the analysis point of view, the polarity of the elements indicates that the correlation of the point measure (PTMEA CORR) of 170 elements of green competencies is between 0.00 and 0.55. The summary statistics show that the reliability of the items and the separation of the items of the green competencies instrument are 0.98 and 6.46, respectively. Similarly, the item reliability of each construct is between 0.96 and 0.99, and the reliability of the person is between 0.79 and 1.97, respectively. In terms of item fit statistics, a total of 157 items are found to be fit to achieve the objectives of the study. The result also indicates that the range of fit for the four (4) identified green competencies constructs is between 0.61 and 1.49 signifying that all the constructs are in harmony in measuring the items in the constructs, so suitable in achieving the objectives of the research.

Examination of validity, reliability, and interpretability of a self-reported questionnaire on Occupational Balance in Informal Caregivers (OBI-Care) – A Rasch analysis

Objectives Informal caregivers often experience a restriction in occupational balance. The self-reported questionnaire on Occupational Balance in Informal Caregivers (OBI-Care) is a measurement instrument to assess occupational balance in informal caregivers. Measurement properties of the German version of the OBI-Care had previously been assessed in parents of preterm infants exclusively. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the measurement properties of the questionnaire in a mixed population of informal caregivers. Methods A psychometric study was conducted, applying a multicenter cross-sectional design. Measurement properties (construct validity, internal consistency, and interpretability) of each subscale of the German version of the OBI-Care were examined. Construct validity was explored by assessing dimensionality, item fit and overall fit to the Rasch model, and threshold ordering. Internal consistency was examined with inter-item correlations, item-total correlations, Cronbach’s alpha, and person separation index. Interpretability was assessed by inspecting floor and ceiling effects. Results A total of 196 informal caregivers, 171 (87.2%) female and 25 (12.8%) male participated in this study. Mean age of participants was 52.27 (±12.6) years. Subscale 1 was multidimensional, subscale 2 and subscale 3 were unidimensional. All items demonstrated item fit and overall fit to the Rasch model and displayed ordered thresholds. Cronbach’s Alpha and person separation index values were excellent for each subscale. There was no evidence of ceiling or floor effects. Conclusions We identified satisfying construct validity, internal consistency, and interpretability. Thus, the findings of this study support the application of the German version of the OBI-Care to assess occupational balance in informal caregivers.

A Robust Method for Detecting Item Misfit in Large Scale Assessments

Viable methods for the identification of item misfit or Differential Item Functioning (DIF) are central to scale construction and sound measurement. Many approaches rely on the derivation of a limiting distribution under the assumption that a certain model fits the data perfectly. Typical assumptions such as the monotonicity and population independence of item functions are present even in classical test theory but are more explicitly stated when using item response theory or other latent variable models for the assessment of item fit. The work presented here provides an alternative approach that does not assume perfect model data fit, but rather uses Tukey’s concept of contaminated distributions and proposes an application of robust outlier detection in order to flag items for which adequate model data fit cannot be established.

A Robust Method for Detecting Item Misfit in Large Scale Assessments

Viable methods for the identification of item misfit or Differential Item Functioning (DIF) are central to scale construction and sound measurement. Many approaches rely on the derivation of a limiting distribution under the assumption that a certain model fits the data perfectly. Typical assumptions such as the monotonicity and population independence of item functions are present even in classical test theory but are more explicitly stated when using item response theory or other latent variable models for the assessment of item fit. The work presented here provides an alternative approach that does not assume perfect model data fit, but rather uses Tukey’s concept of contaminated distributions and proposes an application of robust outlier detection in order to flag items for which adequate model data fit cannot be established.

Impact of Event Scale-6 (IES-6) for U.S. Adults Who Experienced the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness caused by traumatic events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Accurate diagnosis of this disorder is critical to establish effective intervention approaches. The Impact of Event Scale-6 (IES-6) is widely used for PTSD screening, but there has been no research on its psychometric properties with individuals who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A random sample of 600 participants were randomly selected from a COVID-19 survey database (n = 6,391). Rasch analysis was conducted to examine item fit, rating scale structure, construct validity, differential item functioning (DIF), and precision of the IES-6. Results: The principal component analysis of Rasch residuals (54.1% of the raw variance explained) and the average of residual correlations (average r = .19) supported the unidimensionality structure in the IES-6. The rating scale was suitable, and the item difficulty hierarchy was logical. The item fit and the DIF contrast were acceptable, except for item 5. The IES-6’s person reliability was .76, which was also an acceptable level.Conclusions: This study showed that the IES-6 has acceptable item-level psychometrics for screening PTSD in adults in the United States for individuals who have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings suggested that the IES-6 would be useful for the rapid identification of PTSD and allow clinicians to quickly provide interventions for people with the disorder and their families.

Validity and Reliability of Students Perceptions on OBE Approach in Malaysian VC Using Rasch Model

This pilot study aims to produce empirical evidence regarding the validity and reliability of instrument of the perception of vocational college diploma students towards the Outcome Based Education (OBE) approach. Validity and reliability were analysed using Rasch Model Measurement assisted by Winsteps 3.72 software. This research instrument contained 26 items and was distributed to 60 diploma students of vocational college at the Northern Zone. Validity analysis of the instrument was done through four functional testings. For reliability and separation of respondents, it was found that the individual reliability value was 0.91, while that for items demonstrated an item value of 0.94 and item separation index of 3.90. Results from the analysis of polarity item found that 25 items had a positive PMC value between 0.52-0.83. Meanwhile, analysis on item fit found 23 items with an outfit mean-square value between 0.41 and 1.24. This situation suggested three items that require attention. In the analysis on local dependence that determines dependent items based on the standardised residual correlation value, it was shown that the correlation value for the items used did not overlap with that of other items. These findings provided the evidence that the instrument of perception of vocational college diploma students on OBE approach has a high level of validity and reliability to be used in actual studies.

Measurement Properties of Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment for Children Aged 9–12 Years Using Rasch Analysis

The Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA) was recently widely used to assess fundamental motor skills in children. Although the CAMSA is reported to be reliable and valid, its measurement properties are not clear. This study aimed to examine the measurement properties of the CAMSA in a sample of Chinese children using Rasch analysis. The study sample was from 1,094 children aged 9–12 years in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province. Descriptive data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 software, and the dichotomous data were analyzed by Winsteps version 4.5.4 and Facets 3.67.1 software performing Rasch analysis. The present study investigated CAMSA measurement characteristics by Rasch analysis, including the reliability of the rating instrument, unidimensionality, item-fit statistics, and differential item functioning (DIF). Inter-rater reliability and retest reliability showed that the CAMSA had a good internal consistency. Rasch analysis indicated that the CAMSA was unidimensional, locally independent, and had a good item-fit-statistic. Additionally, the CAMSA displayed a good fit for the item separation index (12.50 > 2.0), as well as for item reliability (0.99 > 0.90). However, the item difficulty of the CAMSA did not fit well with personal ability, and a significant DIF was found across genders. In the Chinese children sample test, the CAMSA demonstrated appropriate goodness-of-fit validity and rater reliability. Thus, future research will explore item difficulty and person ability fit, as well as DIF across genders.

Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire to assess occupational balance in parents of preterm infants

Background Parents’ meaningful activities (occupations) and occupational balance are relevant to neonatal care. Valid and reliable self-reported measurement instruments are needed to assess parents’ occupational balance and to evaluate occupational balance interventions in neonatal care. The aims of this study were to develop a self-reported questionnaire on occupational balance in informal caregivers (OBI-Care) and to examine its measurement properties including construct validity and internal consistency. Methods and findings A mixed method multicenter study design was employed. Items of the OBI-Care were created with parents of preterm infants based on qualitative research methods. Measurement properties were analyzed with quantitative data of parents of preterm infants. Construct validity was assessed by determining dimensionality, overall and item fit to a Rasch model, differential item functioning and threshold ordering. Internal consistency was examined by determining inter-item and item-total correlations, Cronbach’s alpha and Rasch’s person separation index. Fourteen parents participated in item creation. Measurement properties were explored in data of 304 parents. Twenty-two items, summarized in three subscales were compiled to the OBI-Care. Items showed an overall fit and except one item, an item fit to the Rasch model. There was no evidence of differential item functioning and all items displayed ordered thresholds. Each subscale had good values of person separation indices and Cronbach’s alpha. Conclusions The OBI-Care demonstrates construct validity and internal consistency and is thus a suitable measurement instrument to assess occupational balance of parents of preterm infants in neonatal care. OBI-Care is generic and can be applied in various health care settings.

Developing FD-MT to investigate students’ mental model on fluid dynamic concept: a Rasch model analysis

Fluid dynamics has some complex and unobservable concept, however, tests are rarely developed to measure students’ understanding of these concepts. This condtion make a difficulty to map students’ mental models with existing instruments. Based on that problem, this study aims to develop FD-MT (fluid dynamic-multi tier test) as a diagnostic test for measure students’ mental model on fluid dynamic concept. The ADDIE (Analyzing, Designing, Developing, Implementing, Evaluating) is a research method that used in this study. The data were collected by FD-MT will be analyzed by rasch model analysis, include the reliability, the validity, item fit and the differential item function. Student mental model clasified as Scientific, Synthesis-A (Sy-A), Synthesis-B(Sy-B), Syinthesis-C (Sy-C), Synthesis-D(Sy-D), and Initial. The participant of this study are 20 students in the eleventh grade (9 boys and 11 girls, 16-17 age in average) at high school in Bandung. Based on result study shows that students’ mental model mostly in mental Sc (8.18%), Sy-A (3.18%), Sy-B (21.36%), Sy-C (19.09%), Sy-D (38.18%) and In (10%), and incompleted answer (Nr = 0%). This conclude that, FD-MT is able to measureing students’ mental model on fluid dynamic concept.