content.balancing {simCAT}

Content balancing

Description

Constricts the selection with content balancing (CCAT or MCCAT)

Usage

content.balancing(
  bank,
  administered = NULL,
  content.names,
  content.props,
  content.items,
  met.content = "MCCAT"
)

Arguments

bank

matrix with item parameters (a, b, c)

administered

vector with administered items, NULL if it is the first item (default)

content.names

vector with the contents of the test

content.props

desirable proportion of each content in test, in the same order of content.names

content.items

vector indicating the content of each item

met.content

content balancing method

• MCCAT (default): the function picks all subgroups with proportions most distant from desirable.

• CCAT: if there is any subgroup without administered item, the function will randomly pick one. If all subgroups has at least one applied item, the function randomly picks one from those with the proportions most distant from desirable.

• MMM: based on the desired proportions of content, the algorithm builds a sum-one cumulative distribution. Then, a random number with uniform distribution between zero and one is drawn. This number corresponds to an area in the cumulative distribution. It is from the content located in this area that the content will be selected.

Value

A numeric vector with the items that will be excluded for selection. That is, it returns the unavailable items. If all items are available, it returns NULL.

Author(s)

Alexandre Jaloto