The Rasch Debate: Validity and Revolution in Educational Measurement.

Abstract

In an address to the National Council on Measurment in Education, R. M. Jaeger (1987) commented that there appears be a fundamental difference in measurement philosophy between those on the two sides of the c,bate over the Rasch model. Jaeger's observations are explicated by contrasting the views on measurement of B. D. Wright and E. F. Lindquist with relation to the interpretation each has of the validation of constructs as considered by C. Cherryholmes (3988). Lindquist conceives of test items as given in an objective reality; the discursive action of construct validation is assumed to take place outside the context in which the construct is manifest. Wright suggests that test items amount to nothing more than guesses about how a construct articulates itself. Instead of objectifying test takers by subjecting them to unquestionable authorit.y, the Rasch approach to test construction suggests that questiolis are tested by the respondents just as much as the respondents are tested by the questions. It is argued that by recognizing the inevitability of the imposition of political, moral, and aesthetic criteria on test items and data, and by formulating models of how theLe criteria can be implemented and criticized, the Rasch model and supporters of Wright's position have made a great contribution to measurement. Two tables expand on the discussion. A 133-item list of references is included. (SLD) ******************************************************************n**** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************

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