Date of Award
2-9-2006
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)
Department
Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology
First Advisor
Gale H. Roid, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Kathleen A. Gathercoal, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Mary A. Peterson, Ph.D.
Abstract
This research examined the Standardization Edition of the Stanford-Binet, Fifth Edition (SB5), in order to assess the cultural validity of items using an index of differential item functioning (DIF) among Asian American and White/Caucasian American children. Archival data, obtained from the SB5 publisher, was used to determine DIF of items for the 101 Asian American and 200 White/Caucasian American children, ages 4-18. Potential bias was determined through the use of partial correlation. A significant correlation between item and an ethnicity code (with overall ability partialed out) indicated that, in general, one group performed better on a particular item than the other group. For the purpose of this study, those items that showed a significant partial correlation between item and ethnicity were examined for possible bias in favor of a particular group. Of the 178 items analyzed, only 10 were found to show DIF in favor of one of the two groups. Seven functioned differentially in favor of White/Caucasian children and three functioned differentially toward Asian American children. Evidence of true bias was judged by graduate students and a professor of psychology who examined the content of the DIF items. There was no specific pattern in regards to the type of items that showed DIF, or in the size of effects. These findings suggest that the Standardization Edition of the SB5 did not show substantial bias toward Asian American children. Six of the items with small DIF effects remain in the final published edition of the SB5. Three of those items favored White/Caucasian Americans and three favored Asian Americans. Thus, the effects of the DIF for each group cancel one another out, thereby indicating that the published SB5 shows little evidence of bias at the item level for Asian Americans.
Recommended Citation
Cardoza, Sheri L., "Differential Item Functioning in Asian-Americans on the Stanford-Binet Standardization Fifth Edition Verbal Subtests" (2006). Doctor of Psychology (PsyD). 464.
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/psyd/464