CROSS-CLASSIFIED LOGISTIC MODELING OF CORRECT RESPONSE PROBABILITY IN HIGHER-EDUCATION MATHEMATICS ASSESSMENT

Authors

  • Dr. Jonathan P. Whitaker Department of Educational Statistics and Measurement, Northbridge University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • Prof. Maria L. Schneider Institute of Mathematical Education and Assessment, Rhine-Westphalia University, Cologne, Germany
  • Dr. Kenji R. Nakamura Department of Statistical Learning and Educational Research, Pacific Institute of Technology, Vancouver, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69980/rpsstb49

Keywords:

cross-classified logistic regression, mathematics assessment, higher education, student heterogeneity, response probability

Abstract

Assessment data in higher education mathematics courses are frequently characterized by complex dependence because individual students answer several questions while the same questions may be answered by multiple students. The analysis included 9,546 responses from 372 students across 833 mathematics questions. Overall, 46.8% of responses were correct. Some topic-specific differences were detected, with lower odds of correct answers for Differentiation, Probability, Real Functions of a Single Variable, and Fundamental Mathematics compared to Linear Algebra, while Set Theory had higher odds. The proportion of latent variance due to student-level heterogeneity was substantially larger than that due to question-level heterogeneity. The cross-classified model showed better model fit, apparent discrimination, and probabilistic accuracy than traditional logistic regression and single-cluster alternatives, as evidenced by lower WAIC, log loss and Brier scores, and a higher AUC. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the main topic effects and variance structure were robust to changes in the specification. The results are congruent with cross-classified modeling as a systematic method to analyze mathematics assessment data and partition sources of variation at the learner- and item-level.

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Published

2024-12-30