A Statistical Test for the Detection of Item Compromise Combining Responses and Response Times
Wim J. van der Linden, Dmitry I. Belov · Journal of Educational Measurement (2022) · doi:10.1111/jedm.12346 · gemini-3.1-flash-lite
TL;DR
The researchers created a statistical tool to catch cheating on tests by looking at both whether students answer correctly and how quickly they do it. By combining these two pieces of information, the test can spot compromised questions much more effectively than using either method alone. In computer simulations, the method was highly successful at identifying items that had been leaked even when only a small number of students had cheated.
Method and sample: The study utilized simulated data for N = 50 test takers per item, evaluating scenarios with varied item difficulty, discrimination, and speed-ability correlations. The baseline comparisons were separate response-only and response-time-only tests, with parameters derived from standard 3PL and lognormal response-time models.
#psychometrics#item security#item response theory#response time modeling#forensics