A Study on the Use of the Rasch Model in the Analysis of Data Collected by Ranking Judgments

Abstract

This research aimed to exemplify the use of the Rasch model in the analysis of data on ranking judgments. To this end, in the study, we delineated in detail all the processes related to the Rasch analysis, from the preparation of the data file to the interpretation of the analysis outputs. Besides, we compered the Rasch analysis results with the outputs obtained from traditional method. We conducted our study on 261 secondary school students. We collected the research data by employing an instrument containing five stimuli regarding the positive aspects and limitations of the mathematics homework. We asked students to rank the positive aspects of the homework by coding the most prominent advantage with 1 and the last advantage with 5. Similarly, we requested them to put in order the limitations of the homework by coding the foremost limitation with 1 and the last limitation with 5. We analyzed the research data according to both the Rasch model and traditional method. Research results revealed that the agreement between the stimuli’s scale values obtained from the Rasch analysis and from the traditional method was high. Considering this result and that the Rasch model is a more practical option in terms of the analysis process, we can suggested researchers to prefer Rasch model instead of the traditional method in the analysis of data based on ranking judgments.