The Case Against Item Bias Detection Techniques Based on Internal Criteria: Do Item Bias Procedures Obscure Test Fairness Issues?

In which directions has item bias research evolved in the last decade? This question is best approached with a good description of how social scientists originally conceived “item bias,” and why they sought to ide_B.tify biased test items. The current definition of item bias is highly restrictive: It is a technical term that carries few of the connotations of everyday language. It is argued later that the modem definition of item bias is quite different from previous conceptions, but that archetypes of the earlier thinking are abundant in the research literature of the 1980s. This mixture of the old and the new has resulted in confusion regarding the purpose of item bias research and some exaggerated claims of efficacy.