Application of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in the Evaluation of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Advances in Differential Item Functioning (DIF) Detection: Methods, Applications, and Implications (Table 12)

Abstract

This study used differential item function (DIF) based on item response theory (IRT) to evaluate the fairness of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Using a descriptive research design a sample of 1000 respondents out of a population of 47974 who freely provided their responses to the RSES available online was selected. To evaluate the psychometric properties for individual items, the Partial Credit Model (PCM) was employed using the Extended Rasch Model (eRM) package in R software. The result showed that the fit statistics indices were all within acceptable range when data fit the PCM. The RSES demonstrated fairness concern with respect to items 2, 5, 7, and 8, functioning differentially based on the subgroups of gender and age.

Authors

• Theode Niyirinda, University of Alabama

• Christopher Adah Ocheni, University of Alabama

• Daniel O. Oyeniran, University of Alabama