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Parametric and Nonparametric Item Response Theory Models in Health Related Quality of Life Measurement

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Statistical Methods for Quality of Life Studies

Abstract

Compared to the measurement of other latent traits like attitudes or abilities, measurement of quality of life poses somewhat more and somewhat different methodological challenges. This paper discusses issues like unidimensionality, number of answer categories per item, information source and the choice between general and group specific questionnaires. It is argued that item response theory can make a useful contribution to quality of life measurement. The parametric Rasch model and the nonparametric Mokken model are viewed as particularly promising.

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Molenaar, I.W. (2002). Parametric and Nonparametric Item Response Theory Models in Health Related Quality of Life Measurement. In: Mesbah, M., Cole, B.F., Lee, ML.T. (eds) Statistical Methods for Quality of Life Studies. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3625-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3625-0_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5207-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-3625-0

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