IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jedbes/v49y2024i6p976-1012.html

Using Regularization to Identify Measurement Bias Across Multiple Background Characteristics: A Penalized Expectation–Maximization Algorithm

Author

Listed:
  • William C. M. Belzak

    (Duolingo Inc.)

  • Daniel J. Bauer

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Abstract

Testing for differential item functioning (DIF) has undergone rapid statistical developments recently. Moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA) allows for simultaneous testing of DIF among multiple categorical and continuous covariates (e.g., sex, age, ethnicity, etc.), and regularization has shown promising results for identifying DIF among many covariates. However, computationally inefficient estimation methods have hampered practical use of the regularized MNFLA method. We develop a penalized expectation–maximization (EM) algorithm with soft- and firm-thresholding to more efficiently estimate regularized MNLFA parameters. Simulation and empirical results show that, compared to previous implementations of regularized MNFLA, the penalized EM algorithm is faster, more flexible, and more statistically principled. This method also yields similar recovery of DIF relative to previous implementations, suggesting that regularized DIF detection remains a preferred approach over traditional methods of identifying DIF.

Suggested Citation

  • William C. M. Belzak & Daniel J. Bauer, 2024. "Using Regularization to Identify Measurement Bias Across Multiple Background Characteristics: A Penalized Expectation–Maximization Algorithm," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 49(6), pages 976-1012, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:49:y:2024:i:6:p:976-1012
    DOI: 10.3102/10769986231226439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/10769986231226439
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3102/10769986231226439?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zou, Hui, 2006. "The Adaptive Lasso and Its Oracle Properties," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 101, pages 1418-1429, December.
    2. R. Bock & Murray Aitkin, 1981. "Marginal maximum likelihood estimation of item parameters: Application of an EM algorithm," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 443-459, December.
    3. Friedman, Jerome H. & Hastie, Trevor & Tibshirani, Rob, 2010. "Regularization Paths for Generalized Linear Models via Coordinate Descent," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 33(i01).
    4. Yunxiao Chen & Chengcheng Li & Jing Ouyang & Gongjun Xu, 2023. "DIF Statistical Inference Without Knowing Anchoring Items," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 88(4), pages 1097-1122, December.
    5. Jianan Sun & Yunxiao Chen & Jingchen Liu & Zhiliang Ying & Tao Xin, 2016. "Latent Variable Selection for Multidimensional Item Response Theory Models via $$L_{1}$$ L 1 Regularization," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 81(4), pages 921-939, December.
    6. Alexander Robitzsch, 2020. "L p Loss Functions in Invariance Alignment and Haberman Linking with Few or Many Groups," Stats, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-38, August.
    7. Gerhard Tutz & Gunther Schauberger, 2015. "A Penalty Approach to Differential Item Functioning in Rasch Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 80(1), pages 21-43, March.
    8. Chen, Yunxiao & Li, Chengcheng & Ouyang, Jing & Xu, Gongjun, 2023. "DIF statistical inference without knowing anchoring items," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119923, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gabriel Wallin & Yunxiao Chen & Irini Moustaki, 2024. "DIF Analysis with Unknown Groups and Anchor Items," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 89(1), pages 267-295, March.
    2. Wallin, Gabriel & Chen, Yunxiao & Moustaki, Irini, 2024. "DIF analysis with unknown groups and anchor items," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121991, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. April E. Cho & Jiaying Xiao & Chun Wang & Gongjun Xu, 2024. "Regularized Variational Estimation for Exploratory Item Factor Analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 89(1), pages 347-375, March.
    4. Na Shan & Ping-Feng Xu, 2024. "Bayesian Adaptive Lasso for Detecting Item–Trait Relationship and Differential Item Functioning in Multidimensional Item Response Theory Models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 89(4), pages 1337-1365, December.
    5. Siliang Zhang & Yunxiao Chen, 2022. "Computation for Latent Variable Model Estimation: A Unified Stochastic Proximal Framework," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(4), pages 1473-1502, December.
    6. Zhang, Siliang & Chen, Yunxiao, 2022. "Computation for latent variable model estimation: a unified stochastic proximal framework," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114489, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Chen, Yunxiao & Li, Xiaoou & Liu, Jingchen & Ying, Zhiliang, 2025. "Item response theory—a statistical framework for educational and psychological measurement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120810, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Tutz, Gerhard & Pößnecker, Wolfgang & Uhlmann, Lorenz, 2015. "Variable selection in general multinomial logit models," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 207-222.
    9. Mkhadri, Abdallah & Ouhourane, Mohamed, 2013. "An extended variable inclusion and shrinkage algorithm for correlated variables," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 631-644.
    10. Chuliá, Helena & Garrón, Ignacio & Uribe, Jorge M., 2024. "Daily growth at risk: Financial or real drivers? The answer is not always the same," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 762-776.
    11. Jun Li & Serguei Netessine & Sergei Koulayev, 2018. "Price to Compete … with Many: How to Identify Price Competition in High-Dimensional Space," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4118-4136, September.
    12. Hui Xiao & Yiguo Sun, 2020. "Forecasting the Returns of Cryptocurrency: A Model Averaging Approach," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, November.
    13. Christopher J Greenwood & George J Youssef & Primrose Letcher & Jacqui A Macdonald & Lauryn J Hagg & Ann Sanson & Jenn Mcintosh & Delyse M Hutchinson & John W Toumbourou & Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz &, 2020. "A comparison of penalised regression methods for informing the selection of predictive markers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-14, November.
    14. Brian Quistorff & Gentry Johnson, 2020. "Machine Learning for Experimental Design: Methods for Improved Blocking," Papers 2010.15966, arXiv.org.
    15. Mostafa Rezaei & Ivor Cribben & Michele Samorani, 2021. "A clustering-based feature selection method for automatically generated relational attributes," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 303(1), pages 233-263, August.
    16. Naimoli, Antonio, 2022. "Modelling the persistence of Covid-19 positivity rate in Italy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    17. Camila Epprecht & Dominique Guegan & Álvaro Veiga & Joel Correa da Rosa, 2017. "Variable selection and forecasting via automated methods for linear models: LASSO/adaLASSO and Autometrics," Post-Print halshs-00917797, HAL.
    18. Lu Tang & Ling Zhou & Peter X. K. Song, 2019. "Fusion learning algorithm to combine partially heterogeneous Cox models," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 395-414, March.
    19. Peter Bühlmann & Jacopo Mandozzi, 2014. "High-dimensional variable screening and bias in subsequent inference, with an empirical comparison," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 407-430, June.
    20. Peter Martey Addo & Dominique Guegan & Bertrand Hassani, 2018. "Credit Risk Analysis Using Machine and Deep Learning Models," Risks, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-20, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:49:y:2024:i:6:p:976-1012. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.