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In a randomized experiment (n = 515), a computerized and a computerized adaptive test (CAT) are compared. The item pool consists of 24 polytomous motivation items. Although items are carefully selected, calibration data show that Samejima's graded response model did not fit the data optimally. A simulation study is done to assess possible consequences of model misfit. CAT efficiency was studied by a systematic comparison of the CAT with two types of conventional fixed length short forms, which are created to be good CAT competitors. Results showed no essential administration mode effects. Efficiency analyses show that CAT outperformed the short forms in almost all aspects when results are aggregated along the latent trait scale. The real and the simulated data results are very similar, which indicate that the real data results are not affected by model misfit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnostatistics is the empirical study of how professional scholars construct and use statistics and numerals in scholarly research. This article provides an overview of the objectives, contents, and contributions of the current theme issue. The nature and relevance of ethnostatistics to organizational issues are discussed. Three levels of ethnostatistics are identified and explained—constructing statistics, statistics at work, and the rhetoric of statistics. The contributions the theme issue provides to these three levels of ethnostatistics are discussed. Foundational perspectives that have shaped ethnostatistics are explored to highlight important assumptions of the field and to distinguish ethnostatistics from related fields. The theme issue broadens the field of ethnostatistics to address statistical practices used by business professionals for organizational purposes. The article concludes by arguing that the field of ethnostatistics needs to develop rapidly at this point in time to address the emerging centrality and importance that statistics hold for everyday organizational life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 520 high school students were randomly assigned to a paper-and-pencil test (PPT), a computerized standard test (CST), or a computerized adaptive test (CAT) version of the Dutch School Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ), consisting of ordinal polytomous items. The CST administered items in the same order as the PPT. The CAT administered all items of three SAQ subscales in adaptive order using Samejima's graded response model, so that six different stopping rule settings could be applied afterwards. School marks were used as external criteria. Results showed significant but small multivariate administration mode effects on conventional raw scores and small to medium effects on maximum likelihood latent trait estimates. When the precision of CAT latent trait estimates decreased, correlations with grade point average in general decreased. However, the magnitude of the decrease was not very large as compared to the PPT, the CST, and the CAT without the stopping rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]