multipleGroup: Multiple Group Estimation

Description

multipleGroup performs a full-information maximum-likelihood multiple group analysis for any combination of dichotomous and polytomous data under the item response theory paradigm using either Cai's (2010) Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro (MHRM) algorithm or with an EM algorithm approach. This function may be used for detecting differential item functioning (DIF), thought the DIF function may provide a more convenient approach.

Usage

multipleGroup(data, model, group, invariance = "", method = "EM",
  rotate = "oblimin", ...)

Arguments

data

a matrix or data.frame that consists of numerically ordered data, with missing data coded as NA

model

string to be passed to, or a model object returned from, mirt.model declaring how the global model is to be estimated (useful to apply constraints here)

group

a character vector indicating group membership

invariance

a character vector containing the following possible options: [object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Additionally, specifying specific item name bundles (from colnames(data)) will constrain all freely estimated

method

a character object that is either 'EM', 'QMCEM', or 'MHRM' (default is 'EM'). See mirt for details

rotate

rotation if models are exploratory (see mirt for details)

...

additional arguments to be passed to the estimation engine. See mirt for details and examples

Value

function returns an object of class MultipleGroupClass (MultipleGroupClass-class).

Details

By default the estimation in multipleGroup assumes that the models are maximally independent, and therefore could initially be performed by sub-setting the data and running identical models with mirt and aggregating the results (e.g., log-likelihood). However, constrains may be automatically imposed across groups by invoking various invariance keywords. Users may also supply a list of parameter equality constraints to by constrain argument, of define equality constraints using the mirt.model syntax (recommended).

Examples

Run this code

#single factor
set.seed(12345)
a <- matrix(abs(rnorm(15,1,.3)), ncol=1)
d <- matrix(rnorm(15,0,.7),ncol=1)
itemtype <- rep('dich', nrow(a))
N <- 1000
dataset1 <- simdata(a, d, N, itemtype)
dataset2 <- simdata(a, d, N, itemtype, mu = .1, sigma = matrix(1.5))
dat <- rbind(dataset1, dataset2)
group <- c(rep('D1', N), rep('D2', N))
models <- 'F1 = 1-15'

mod_configural <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group) #completely separate analyses
#limited information fit statistics
M2(mod_configural)

mod_metric <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, invariance=c('slopes')) #equal slopes
#equal intercepts, free variance and means
mod_scalar2 <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group,
                             invariance=c('slopes', 'intercepts', 'free_var','free_means'))
mod_scalar1 <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group,  #fixed means
                             invariance=c('slopes', 'intercepts', 'free_var'))
mod_fullconstrain <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group,
                             invariance=c('slopes', 'intercepts'))
slot(mod_fullconstrain, 'time') #time of estimation components

#optionally use Newton-Raphson for (generally) faster convergence in the M-step's
mod_fullconstrain <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, optimizer = 'NR',
                             invariance=c('slopes', 'intercepts'))
slot(mod_fullconstrain, 'time') #time of estimation components

summary(mod_scalar2)
coef(mod_scalar2, simplify=TRUE)
residuals(mod_scalar2)
plot(mod_configural)
plot(mod_configural, type = 'info')
plot(mod_configural, type = 'trace')
plot(mod_configural, type = 'trace', which.items = 1:4)
itemplot(mod_configural, 2)
itemplot(mod_configural, 2, type = 'RE')

anova(mod_metric, mod_configural) #equal slopes only
anova(mod_scalar2, mod_metric) #equal intercepts, free variance and mean
anova(mod_scalar1, mod_scalar2) #fix mean
anova(mod_fullconstrain, mod_scalar1) #fix variance


#test whether first 6 slopes should be equal across groups
values <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, pars = 'values')
values
constrain <- list(c(1, 63), c(5,67), c(9,71), c(13,75), c(17,79), c(21,83))
equalslopes <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, constrain = constrain)
anova(equalslopes, mod_configural)

#same as above, but using mirt.model syntax
newmodel <- '
    F = 1-15
    CONSTRAINB = (1-6, a1)'
equalslopes <- multipleGroup(dat, newmodel, group = group)
coef(equalslopes, simplify=TRUE)

#############
#DIF test for each item (using all other items as anchors)
itemnames <- colnames(dat)
refmodel <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, SE=TRUE,
                             invariance=c('free_means', 'free_var', itemnames))

#loop over items (in practice, run in parallel to increase speed). May be better to use ?DIF
estmodels <- vector('list', ncol(dat))
for(i in 1:ncol(dat))
    estmodels[[i]] <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, verbose = FALSE, calcNull=FALSE,
                             invariance=c('free_means', 'free_var', itemnames[-i]))

(anovas <- lapply(estmodels, anova, object2=refmodel, verbose=FALSE))

#family-wise error control
p <- do.call(rbind, lapply(anovas, function(x) x[2, 'p']))
p.adjust(p, method = 'BH')

#same as above, except only test if slopes vary (1 df)
#constrain all intercepts
estmodels <- vector('list', ncol(dat))
for(i in 1:ncol(dat))
    estmodels[[i]] <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, verbose = FALSE, calcNull=FALSE,
                             invariance=c('free_means', 'free_var', 'intercepts',
                             itemnames[-i]))

(anovas <- lapply(estmodels, anova, object2=refmodel, verbose=FALSE))

#quickly test with Wald test using DIF()
mod_configural2 <- multipleGroup(dat, models, group = group, SE=TRUE)
DIF(mod_configural2, which.par = c('a1', 'd'), Wald=TRUE, p.adjust = 'fdr')

#############
#multiple factors

a <- matrix(c(abs(rnorm(5,1,.3)), rep(0,15),abs(rnorm(5,1,.3)),
     rep(0,15),abs(rnorm(5,1,.3))), 15, 3)
d <- matrix(rnorm(15,0,.7),ncol=1)
mu <- c(-.4, -.7, .1)
sigma <- matrix(c(1.21,.297,1.232,.297,.81,.252,1.232,.252,1.96),3,3)
itemtype <- rep('dich', nrow(a))
N <- 1000
dataset1 <- simdata(a, d, N, itemtype)
dataset2 <- simdata(a, d, N, itemtype, mu = mu, sigma = sigma)
dat <- rbind(dataset1, dataset2)
group <- c(rep('D1', N), rep('D2', N))

#group models
model <- '
   F1 = 1-5
   F2 = 6-10
   F3 = 11-15'

#define mirt cluster to use parallel architecture
mirtCluster()

#EM approach (not as accurate with 3 factors, but generally good for quick model comparisons)
mod_configural <- multipleGroup(dat, model, group = group) #completely separate analyses
mod_metric <- multipleGroup(dat, model, group = group, invariance=c('slopes')) #equal slopes
mod_fullconstrain <- multipleGroup(dat, model, group = group, #equal means, slopes, intercepts
                             invariance=c('slopes', 'intercepts'))

anova(mod_metric, mod_configural)
anova(mod_fullconstrain, mod_metric)

#same as above, but with MHRM (generally  more accurate with 3+ factors, but slower)
mod_configural <- multipleGroup(dat, model, group = group, method = 'MHRM')
mod_metric <- multipleGroup(dat, model, group = group, invariance=c('slopes'), method = 'MHRM')
mod_fullconstrain <- multipleGroup(dat, model, group = group, method = 'MHRM',
                             invariance=c('slopes', 'intercepts'))

anova(mod_metric, mod_configural)
anova(mod_fullconstrain, mod_metric)

############
#polytomous item example
set.seed(12345)
a <- matrix(abs(rnorm(15,1,.3)), ncol=1)
d <- matrix(rnorm(15,0,.7),ncol=1)
d <- cbind(d, d-1, d-2)
itemtype <- rep('graded', nrow(a))
N <- 1000
dataset1 <- simdata(a, d, N, itemtype)
dataset2 <- simdata(a, d, N, itemtype, mu = .1, sigma = matrix(1.5))
dat <- rbind(dataset1, dataset2)
group <- c(rep('D1', N), rep('D2', N))
model <- 'F1 = 1-15'

mod_configural <- multipleGroup(dat, model, group = group)
plot(mod_configural)
plot(mod_configural, type = 'SE')
itemplot(mod_configural, 1)
itemplot(mod_configural, 1, type = 'info')
fs <- fscores(mod_configural, full.scores = FALSE)
head(fs[["D1"]])
fscores(mod_configural, method = 'EAPsum', full.scores = FALSE)

# constrain slopes within each group to be equal (but not across groups)
model2 <- 'F1 = 1-15
           CONSTRAIN = (1-15, a1)'
mod_configural2 <- multipleGroup(dat, model2, group = group)
plot(mod_configural2, type = 'SE')
plot(mod_configural2, type = 'RE')
itemplot(mod_configural2, 10)

############
## empirical histogram example (normal and bimodal groups)
set.seed(1234)
a <- matrix(rlnorm(50, .2, .2))
d <- matrix(rnorm(50))
ThetaNormal <- matrix(rnorm(2000))
ThetaBimodal <- scale(matrix(c(rnorm(1000, -2), rnorm(1000,2)))) #bimodal
Theta <- rbind(ThetaNormal, ThetaBimodal)
dat <- simdata(a, d, 4000, itemtype = 'dich', Theta=Theta)
group <- rep(c('G1', 'G2'), each=2000)

EH <- multipleGroup(dat, 1, group=group, empiricalhist = TRUE, invariance = colnames(dat))
coef(EH, simplify=TRUE)
plot(EH, type = 'empiricalhist', npts = 60)

#dif test for item 1
EH1 <- multipleGroup(dat, 1, group=group, empiricalhist = TRUE, invariance = colnames(dat)[-1])
anova(EH, EH1)

Run the code above in your browser using DataLab