Responses are revalued according to the matching codes in IVALUE=. If this implies that the items may have different rating (or partial credit) scale structures, so ISGROUPS= may also be required.

 

 

IREFER= has three forms: IREFER=AABBCDAAD and IREFER=* list * and IREFER=*filename

 

Valid one-character IREFER= codes include: !#$%&-./123456789<>@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ^_|~

 

A-Z are the same as a-z.

 

Characters with ASCII codes from 129-255 can also be used, but display peculiarly: ÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕÖ×ØÙÚÛÜÝÞßàáâã etc.

 

When XWIDE=2 or more, then

either (a) Use one character per XWIDE and blanks,

  NI=8

  XWIDE=2

  IREFER=' A B C D D C B A'

 

or (b) Use one character per item with no blanks

  NI=8

  XWIDE=2

  NEWSCORE='ABCDDCBA'

 

Item identifying codes can be letters or numbers. "A" is the same as "a", etc.

 

Example 1. There are 3 item types. Items are to rescored according to Type A and Type B. Other items to keep original scoring.

 CODES = 1234

 IREFER = AAAAAAAABBBBBBBB******* 3 item types: ("a" is the same as "A" in these codes)

 IVALUEA = 1223  Recode Type A items

 IVALUEB = 1123  Recode Type B items

 IVALUE* = 1234  Recode Type * item. Can be omitted

 

or

 IREFER=*

 1-8 A

 9-16 B

 17-23 *

 *

or

 IREFER=*filename.txt

 

in filename.txt:

 1-8 A

 9-16 B

 17-23 *

 

Example 2. There are 3 item types. Responses are 2 characters wide. Items are to rescored according to Type A and Type B. Other items to keep original scoring.

 XWIDE=2

 CODES = '1 2 3 4 '

 IREFER = AAAAAAAABBBBBBBB******* 3 item types

 IVALUEA = '1 2 2 3 '  Recode Type A items

 IVALUEB = '1 1 2 3 '  Recode Type B items

 IVALUE* = 1234  Recode Type * item. Can be omitted

 

Example 3: All items are to be rescored the same way

NI = 100   100 ITEMS

IREFER=*

1-100 X   FOR ALL 100 ITEMS, reference is X

*

Codes = 12345  rescore 12345

IVALUEX = 12223  into 12223

 

Example 4: Items are to be rescored in 3 different ways, forward scoring, reversed scoring and dichotomized scoring. Then the items are to be divided into 4 rating scale structures.

ISGROUPS=11112223312444 ; 4 RATING SCALE GROUPINGS

IREFER  =AAAABBBCCABBBB ; 3 RECODINGS

CODES   =01234 ; ORIGINAL CODES IN DATA

IVALUEA =01234 ; ORIGINAL CODING MAINTAINED - THIS LINE CAN BE OMITTED

IVALUEB =43210 ; CODING IS REVERSED

IVALUEC =*112* ; DICHOTOMIZED WITH EXTREME CATEGORIES MARKED MISSING

 

Example 5: Multiple-choice test with 4 options, ABCD

IREFER=ABCDDABADCDA ; SCORING KEY

CODES  =ABCD  ; VALID DATA CODES

IVALUEA=1000  ; A SCORED 1

IVALUEB=0100  ; B SCORED 1

IVALUEC=0010  ; C SCORED 1

IVALUED=0001  ; D SCORED 1

MISSCORE=0  ; EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE DATA SCORED 0

 

Example 6: A 10 item multiple choice test with 4 partial credit performance items scores 0,1,2,3.

NI = 14   ; 14 items

;        12345678901234

ISGROUPS=DDDDDDDDDD0000 ; 10 Dichotomies in Group "D". 4 Partial Credit items each in its own group "0"

IREFER  =ABCDDABADC1111 ; ITEM REFERENCE FOR THE 14 ITEMS

CODES  =ABCD0123  ; VALID DATA CODES

IVALUEA=10000000  ; A SCORED 1

IVALUEB=01000000  ; B SCORED 1

IVALUEC=00100000  ; C SCORED 1

IVALUED=00010000  ; D SCORED 1

IVALUE1=00000123  ; PERFORMANCE ITEMS: 0,1,2,3

MISSING-SCORED=0  ; EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE DATA SCORED 0

 

Example 7: Partial credit items are to be rescored:

IREFER = ABCAAB ; there are six items items 1, 4 and 5 have one rescoring. Items 2 and 6 another rescoring. Item 3 a third rescoring
CODES = 1234 ; the original scoring
IVALUEA = 1123 ; the new scoring for A-type items
IVALUEB = 1334 ; for B-type items
IVALUEC = 1234 ; original scoring maintained
 
Now there is a decision:
does 134 mean the same as 123, so that 2 is a structural zero, if so STKEEP=NO
does 134 mean the same as 1(2)34, so that 2 is an incidental or sampling zero, if so STKEEP=YES

Example 8: An MCQ item where two boxes can be checked for one item, e.g., choose 2 options out of 5.

 

Load the data into Excel. Each one-box item has a separate column. The two-box item is converted into 5 columns, one for each option. For example, 2 out 5 becomes 5 dichotomies, one for each option:, A-E,

Each dichotomy is scored 1 if the response is right, 0 if wrong, so

the two correct answers are scored 1 if selected, 0 if not

the three incorrect answers are scored 0 if selected, 1 if not

then

the two correct dichotomies are weighted 1

and the three incorrect dichotomies are weighted 0

Use Winsteps Excel/RSSST menu to create the Winsteps data file.