THE INVESTIGATION OF THE STUDENT SELECTION AND PLACEMENT EXAMINATION FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION WITH RESPECT TO GENDER IN TERMS OF ITEM BIAS

Dr. Halil Yurdugül
Dr. Petek Aşkar
Hacettepe University

Abstract

In this study, the test items of the Student Selection and Placement Examination for Secondary Education were examined with respect to gender in terms of differential item functioning (DIF). In DIF analysis, responses from 269514 girls and 283594 boys to 100 items were used. Mantel-Haenszel statistic was used in order to examine differential item functioning. No DIF was observed in both Turkish and Social Sciences subtests. However, DIF was found in some of the items of Mathematics and Natural Sciences subtests with respect to gender. It was investigated whether DIF had been caused by bias or true difference.

Keywords
Differential item functioning, item bias, true difference, Mantel-Haenszel.