IRT-related factor analytic procedures for testing the equivalence of paper-and-pencil and Internet-administered questionnaires

Abstract

This article describes a general item response theory-based factor analytic procedure that allows assessment of the equivalence between 2 administrative modes of a questionnaire: paper and pencil, and Internet based. The theoretical relations between the present procedure and other methods used in previous empirical research are shown, and the advantages of the procedure are discussed. An empirical application based on 2 personality questionnaires is given, and the results are compared with the results of using traditional procedures for assessing equivalence. The substantive implications of the results, as well as suggestions for further research and methodology, are discussed.