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Increasing Meaning in Measurement: A Rasch Analysis of the Child Adolescent Teasing Scale (CATS). Judith A. Vessey, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN Rachel L. DiFazio, RN, PhD(c) Tania D. Strout, PhD, RN.
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Increasing Meaning in Measurement: A Rasch Analysis of the Child Adolescent Teasing Scale(CATS) Judith A. Vessey, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN Rachel L. DiFazio, RN, PhD(c) Tania D. Strout, PhD, RN
Declaration: No conflicts of interestFunding: National Institutes of Nursing Research, R01 NR 04838
Background • Youth Teasing and Bullying are a major public health problem • ~20% of youths report being bullied or bullying at school in a given year • 160,000 on any given day • Significant psychological and physical sequelae • Healthy People 2020 Objective – reduce bullying among adolescents • State legislation requiring teasing and bullying interventions
Teasing Dynamic social interactions comprised of a set of verbal and/or non-verbal behaviors that occur among peers and that is humorous and playful on one level but may be annoying to the target child on another level.
Bullying Repetitive persistent patterns of conduct by one or more children that deliberately inflict physical, verbal, or emotional abuse on another child and where a real or perceived power differential is in place.
Teasing & Bullying as a Continuum Mean-spirited bullying that is poorly received; Objective bullying Good-natured teasing that is poorly received; Chronic teasing/ Subjective bullying Mean-spirited bullying that is well received; Builds resiliency to bullying Good-natured teasing that is well received
Need for Measurement Theory • Goal: to allow for a safe acquirement and reproducibility of measuring characteristics • Analysis of data should reflect reality rather than just the numbers
Classical Test Theory vs.Latent Trait Models • CTT: has the test (not the item) as its basis • Although the statistics generated are often generalized to similar students taking a similar test; they only really apply to those students taking that test • Latent trait models: aim to look beyond that at the underlying traits which are producing the test performance • They are measured at item level and provide sample-free measurement
Items Analysis Latent Trait Models Classical Test Theory Item Response Theory Rasch Models 4P 1P 2P 3P Similar
Goals of Rasch Analysis • To demonstrate the relationship between item difficulty and person ability • The latent variable is conceptualized as existing along a continuum • Items can be hierarchically ordered along the continuum • The score provides information regarding what it means to be at a specific place on the continuum
Results of the CATS CTT Analysis • Final instrument: 32 items and 4 domains
Purpose • To evaluate the degree to which the CATS items have been developed in accordance with the assumptions of the Rasch measurement model
Methods • Methodological study design • It was hypothesized that teasing/bullying, as measured by the CATS items, are: • unidimensional in nature • follows a hierarchical order in the way that the items define the variable • a continuum along which the CATS items can be ordered and people experiencing • various levels of teasing/bullying can be placed • Secondary data analysis • Sample: 666 children aged 11-15 years
Methods • Each CATS subscale evaluated independently • Winstepsv. 3.69.0 for Rasch analyses • RaschRating Scale Model:
Methods • Person & Item Separation Statistics • Hierarchical Order • Analysis of Fit • Fit to Ideal Rasch Model • Principal Components Analysis of Rasch Residuals • Dimensionality • Variable Maps • Hierarchical Order • Continuum
Results • The current CATS subscales were not uni-dimensional, did not strictly follow hierarchical order, and did not stretch along the entire continuum
Variable Map Domain Personality & Behavior Family & Environment School-related Body size
Mean-spirited bullying that is poorly received; Objective bullying Good-natured teasing that is poorly received; Chronic teasing/ Subjective bullying Mean-spirited bullying that is well received; Builds resiliency to bullying Good-natured teasing that is well received
Conclusion The divergent results between the CTT and Rasch analyses, while not completely surprising, underscore the need for continued refinement of an instrument’s psychometric properties to ensure that is measuring the concept of interest in the way that it was intended. Reference: Vessey, J. A., DiFazio, R. L., & Strout, T. D. (2012). Increasing meaning in measurement: A Rasch analysis of the CATS. Nursing Research, 69, 159-170.