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Modeling Not-Reached Items in Timed Tests: A Response Time Censoring Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Jinxin Guo ,
Xin Xu ,
Zhiliang Ying  and
Susu Zhang Open the ORCID record for Susu Zhang [Opens in a new window]
Jinxin Guo
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University
Xin Xu
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University
Zhiliang Ying
Affiliation:
Columbia University
Susu Zhang*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
*
Correspondence should be made to Susu Zhang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA. Email: szhan105@illinois.edu
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Abstract

Time limits are imposed on many computer-based assessments, and it is common to observe examinees who run out of time, resulting in missingness due to not-reached items. The present study proposes an approach to account for the missing mechanisms of not-reached items via response time censoring. The censoring mechanism is directly incorporated into the observed likelihood of item responses and response times. A marginal maximum likelihood estimator is proposed, and its asymptotic properties are established. The proposed method was evaluated and compared to several alternative approaches that ignore the censoring through simulation studies. An empirical study based on the PISA 2018 Science Test was further conducted.

Keywords

not-reached itemsmissing dataresponse timecensoringtimed test
Type
Theory & Methods
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 87 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 835 - 867
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 The Psychometric Society

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