Connecting-Africa | Find publications

Advanced search

Find:


Title Differential item functioning in the Figure Classification Test.
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1116
Date 1998
Author(s) Van Zyl, E.; Visser, D.
Abstract The elimination of unfair discrimination and cultural bias of any kind, is a contentious workplace issue in contemporary South Africa. To ensure fairness in testing, psychometric instruments are subjected to empirical investigations for the detection of possible bias that could lead to selection decisions constituting unfair discrimination. This study was conducted to explore the possible existence of differential item functioning (DIF), or potential bias, in the Figure Classification Test (A121) by means of the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square technique. The sample consisted of 498 men at a production company in the Western Cape. Although statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the mean test scores of three racial groups on the test, very few items were identified as having statistically significant DIF. The possibility is discussed that, despite the presence of some DIF, the differences between the means may not be due to the measuring instrument itself being biased/ but rather to extraneous sources of variation, such as the unequal education and socio-economic backgrounds of the racial groups. It was concluded that there is very little evidence of item bias in the test.
Subject(s) Psychometric instruments; Mantel-Haenszel chi-square technique
Language en
Publisher Journal of Industrial Psychology
Type of publication Article
Rights Complies with the rights as specified by the publisher: http://www.sajip.co.za/ & Copyright University of Johannesburg
Identifier 24(2), 25-33.
Repository Johannesburg - University of Johannesburg
Added to C-A: 2009-01-19;15:13:14