Computerized adaptive testing with polytomous items

Abstract

Polytomous item response theory models and the research that has been conducted to investigate a variety of possible operational procedures for polytomous model-based computerized adaptive testing (CAT) are reviewed. Studies that compared polytomous CAT systems based on competing item response theory models that are appropriate for the same measurement objective, as well as applications of polytomous CAT in marketing and educational psychology, also are reviewed. Directions for future research using polytomous model-based CAT are suggested. Index terms: computerized adaptive testing, polytomous item response theory, polytomous scoring.