Investigating the sources of differential item functioning: A sample critical thinking motivation scale

Abstract

Investigating the existence of items with differential item functioning (DIF) may provide more accurate comparisons of group differences in studies that aim to compare scores obtained in a test by groups with different characteristics. In the present study, a scale measuring critical thinking motivation that was adapted to the Turkish culture was applied to 817 participants, who were high school graduates, university students, and university graduates. The aim of the study was to examine whether the data collected from these participants had DIF or not. Hence, DIF analysis of the collected data was performed via the "lordif" function in the R "lordif" package. DIF was found to occur in twelve items, three of which were related to gender and nine to level of education. While it was revealed that the content of the items was the source of gender related DIF, the source of DIF related to level of education was found to be the language and expression of the items.