The Consideration of Subscores: Dimensionality Analyses of the Multistate Bar Examination

• In Event: Roundtable Session 59
  In Roundtable Session: Using Psychometrics to Optimize Certification Testing

Abstract

A licensure exam is often administered with multiple purposes in mind, including providing both an overall score and subscores. Given the potential utility of subscores, it is essential to establish their validity before regularly providing them. Employing factor analysis to assess dimensionality both informs subscore validity and addresses potential consequences related to the estimation of the scale’s psychometric properties and examinees’ trait estimates. In addition to traditional factor analytic approaches, this research explores the application of the bi-factor model as an alternative conceptualization; the bi-factor model uniquely addresses the dual goals of assessing unidimensionality in terms of reporting an overall score and evaluating subscore viability. Dimensionality analyses are applied to the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), a licensure exam for lawyers.

Author

• Michelle Langer, National Conference of Bar Examiners