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52 stories

Week 52: State of the art psychometric and statistical analysis

ACER staff in the psychometrics and methodology research program support a range of ACER projects, undertake commissioned work and conduct state-of-the-art research in psychometrics and quantitative methodology.

Research Director Siek Toon Khoo explains, ‘Our collaboration with colleagues within and beyond ACER enables us to ensure that ACER is at the cutting edge in terms of psychometric and statistical analysis. We conduct state-of-the-art research and analysis in psychometrics and quantitative methodology and contribute to capacity building in educational assessment in developing countries.’

Senior Research Fellow Yan Bibby, Research Fellows Steven Kambouris, Clare Ozolins, Xiaoxun Sun, Ling Tan and Daniel Urbach, and Siek Toon provide the psychometric and statistical data analysis for various large-scale assessment and research projects. Recent work includes statistical analysis for the National Assessment Program for the United Arab Emirates, the Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes feasibility study, the University Experience Survey and Australasian Survey of Student Engagement, and ACER’s International Schools' Assessment, International Benchmark Tests and scholarship programs. The work of the psychometric team enhances the research and project work of ACER by employing best available approaches to psychometric and statistical analysis.

Commissioned work from external clients includes analysis and reporting on student performance on the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, and statistical analysis for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and JMA Analytics.

ACER’s psychometrics and methodology staff make an important contribution to the broader profession by engaging in fundamental psychometric and quantitative methodology research. Recently, Yan Bibby and Siek Toon presented their research at the Modern Modeling Methods Conference at the University of Connecticut, while Ling Tan and Xiaoxun Sun presented their data mining work at the International Conference on Educational Data Mining in Greece late last year. ‘By attending and presenting at international conferences that focus on methodology, we’re able to disseminate what we do and also learn from other researchers,’ Yan explains.

The team is also involved in building capacity in psychometrics and quantitative research methods. This work has taken some of the team members to China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. As Yan explains, ‘In the 2006 and 2009 cycles of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), for example, I’ve travelled to Beijing to train staff in China’s National Education Examinations Authority and helped them analyse their PISA trial results. I’ll return to Beijing in 2013 to help in scaling their PISA 2012 results.’

Daniel Urbach has been working with ACER’s Delhi staff on primary and secondary assessment projects in Bangladesh, as well as conducting workshops in Bangladesh. ‘The projects have enabled me to train and work with our Indian colleagues in psychometrics and introduce them to typical ACER psychometric processes and procedures that will stand them in good stead in their local work,’ Daniel says.

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Week 51: Assessing civics and citizenship

Week 50: International research into teaching and learning

Week 49: Supporting high-quality education across the world

Week 48: The devolution revolution

Week 47: Team effort: The International Schools’ Assessment