Process Data in Educational and Psychological Measurement

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Background

The recent advances in computer technology enhance the convenient collection of process data in computer-based assessment. With the availability of process data in addition to response data, the measurement field is becoming increasingly interested in borrowing additional auxiliary information from responding process to serve different assessment purposes. For instance, recently researchers proposed different models for response time and the joint modeling of responses and response time. Besides, other process data such as the path collected based eye-tracking devices, action sequences in problem solving tasks, and processes in collaborative problem solving, are also worthy of exploration and integration with product data for assessment purposes.

This Research Topic intends to present the cutting-edge research related to utilizing process data (in addition to product data such as item responses) in educational and psychological measurement for enhancing accuracy in ability parameter estimation, facilitating cognitive diagnosis, and aberrant responding behavior detection, to name a few. It is expected that different types of process data would be utilized to deal with measurement challenges or improve current practices in educational and psychological measurement. On one hand, the methods for analyzing process data in technology-enhanced innovative items in large-scale assessment for high-stakes decisions would be addressed; on the other hand, methods for the extraction of useful information in process data in assessment such as serious games and simulations would be discussed. Further, the uses and analyses of process data in low-stakes assessment would be elaborated for different purposes as well.

It is expected that the contributors of this Research Topic would continue this line of research in taking advantages of process data in either educational or psychological measurement. The submitted papers could be innovative methodological papers, applications of existing methods in analyzing process data in real testing programs and for real world assessment purposes. As a starting point, the following summary may help potential contributors to get an idea of the scope and the expectations of this Research Topic. However, this list does not intend to limit the originality of any potential work. Please feel free to contact the editors of this Research Topic to check the fit of a measurement topic or issue to be explored.

Areas: Educational measurement and/or psychological measurement. Psychometric issues include but are not limited to the following aspects:
1. propose new models for process data analysis;
2. propose new models for joint modeling of process data and product data (such as item response data);
3. improve model parameter estimation in current psychometric models using process data;
4. use process data (in addition to response data) for cognitive diagnosis;
5. aberrant responding behavior detection using process data;
6. propose new person or item fit index based on process data;
7. utilize process data to improve computerized adaptive test implementation such as facilitating more efficient and accurate item selection;
8. use process data to quantify item features to facilitate item writing in developing items with more targeted psychometric features.

Keywords: Process data, response time, big data, educational measurement, psychological measurement

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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