An Adaptive Testing Algorithms Based on Polytomous Item Ordering Theory

[[abstract]]The purposes of this research are in the following. 1. Develop new polytomous item ordering coefficients for measuring the ordering relationship between polytomous items or testlets, 2. Construct adaptive testing algorithms based on the item structures estimated by the proposed polytomous item ordering coefficients, 3. Construct adaptive testing algorithms based on the hybrid item structures estimated by both dichotomous and polytomous item ordering coefficients, 4. Evaluate the performances of the proposed adaptive testing algorithms. Two polytomous item ordering coefficients are proposed for estimating the ordering structures of mathematics tests of competence indices composed by testlets. Two real data sets are used for evaluating adaptive testing algorithms based on the item structures estimated by ordering theory and two proposed coefficients, and the hybrid item structures. Experimental results show that 1. The performances of the proposed polytomous item ordering coefficients outperform that of ordering theory. 2. The hybrid item structures are better choices than others