ABSTRACT
The application of item response theory (IRT) in health measurement has virtually taken the field by storm. A recent Google search identified 401,000 hits for these relatively new concepts versus 483,000 hits for “item response theory” and “education.” Most of this growth, however, has taken place in relative secret to those who typically identify IRT as only being associated with educational measurement. This chapter overviews numerous areas of health measurement, which are actively taking advantage of IRT, and shares examples of how some health measurement problems have been resolved using novel applications of IRT.
