Do you conduct adaptive testing research? Perhaps a thesis or dissertation? Or maybe you have developed adaptive tests and have a technical report or validity study? I encourage you to check out the Journal of Computerized Adaptive Testing as a publication outlet for your adaptive testing research. JCAT is the official journal of the International Association for Computerized Adaptive Testing (IACAT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the science of assessments.
JCAT has an absolutely stellar board of editors and was founded to focus on improving the dissemination of research in adaptive testing. The IACAT website also contains a comprehensive bibliography of research in adaptive testing, across all journals and tech reports, for the past 50 years. IACAT was founded at the 2009 conference on computerized adaptive testing and has since held conferences every other year as well as hosting the JCAT journal.
Potential research topics at the JCAT journal
Here are some of the potential research topics:
- Item selection algorithms
- Item exposure algorithms
- Termination criteria
- Cognitive diagnostic models
- Simulation studies
- Validation studies
- Item response theory models
- Multistage testing
- Use of adaptive testing in new(er) situations, like patient reported outcomes
- Design of actual adaptive assessments and their release into the wild
If you are not involved in CAT research but are interested, please visit the IACAT and journal website to read the articles. Access is free. JCAT would also appreciate it if you would share this information to colleagues so that they might consider publication.
Nathan Thompson, PhD, is CEO and Co-Founder of Assessment Systems Corporation (ASC). He is a psychometrician, software developer, author, and researcher, and evangelist for AI and automation. His mission is to elevate the profession of psychometrics by using software to automate psychometric work like item review, job analysis, and Angoff studies, so we can focus on more innovative work. His core goal is to improve assessment throughout the world.
Nate was originally trained as a psychometrician, with an honors degree at Luther College with a triple major of Math/Psych/Latin, and then a PhD in Psychometrics at the University of Minnesota. He then worked multiple roles in the testing industry, including item writer, test development manager, essay test marker, consulting psychometrician, software developer, project manager, and business leader. He is also cofounder and Membership Director at the International Association for Computerized Adaptive Testing (iacat.org). He’s published 100+ papers and presentations, but his favorite remains https://scholarworks.umass.edu/pare/vol16/iss1/1/.
