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Evaluation & the Health Professions
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Procedures for the Analysis of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) for Small Sample Sizes

Jin-Shei Lai

Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Center on Outcomes, Research and Education (CORE), Evanston Northwestern Healthcare

Jeanne Teresi

Columbia University Stroud Center and Faculty of Medicine, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale

Richard Gershon

Northwestern University, Center on Outcomes, Research and Education (CORE), Evanston Northwestern Healthcare

An item with differential item functioning (DIF) displays different statistical properties, conditional on a matching variable. The presence of DIF in measures can invalidate the conclusions of medical outcome studies. Numerous approaches have been developed to examine DIF in many areas, including education and health-related quality of life. There is little consensus in the research community regarding selection of one best method, and most methods require large sample sizes. This article describes some approaches to examine DIF with small samples (e.g., less than 200).

Key Words: differential item functioning • DIF • Rasch analysis • Item Response Theory • logistic regression • health-related quality of life

Evaluation & the Health Professions, Vol. 28, No. 3, 283-294 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0163278705278276
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