Research Framework

All assessment programs have some common structures, including a common set of components. Any research project we conduct must fit within a given structure. One possible organizing structure is presented here. Many, if not most, research projects will naturally relate to more than one area, because the nature of educational measurement research is often directed at studying the effects of one aspect of measurement on another aspect. Sometimes a research project will predominately focus on one area of measurement, while only incidentally involving other areas; other times a project may have two or more research foci. In spite of such cross fertilization of research across different areas of educational measurement, we have found a framework with separately delineated areas to be a useful and helpful tool for organizing and discussing such research. Our framework has three general categories:

• Modeling and Design
• Statistical Analysis
• Scoring and Reporting