Item analysis of the Child Neuropsychological Assessment Test (TENI): Classical test theory and item response theory

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the Test de Evaluación Neuropsicologica Infantil (TENI) using classical test theory (CTT), item response theory (IRT), and differential item functioning (DIF) models. The visuospatial working memory, focused attention, and matrix reasoning subtasks were analyzed. A total of 553 children, aged between 3 and 9 years of age, from eight public and private schools from the urban area of Belo Horizonte were assessed. In general, all subtasks can be treated essentially as unidimensional. Items’ discrimination and difficulties increased in the order of presentation, as they were planned, using CTT and IRT. Items with DIF were found in all tasks, with higher probabilities of answering items correctly for boys and for private school children. Our results corroborated the partial use of some TENI subtasks as a promising digital instrument for non-verbal neuropsychological assessment for children.

Keywords:

• Classical test theory
• digital assessment
• item response theory
• neuropsychological test battery

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Professor Ricardo Rosas and the CEDETI- PUC-Chile for authorization to use the instrument in Brazil and for support in all phases of the research. We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data are not available since the authors do not own the copyright of the instrument.

Notes

1 Note: the questionnaire was answered by each child's legal guardian and not all of them completed the instrument. Therefore, the comparison was calculated using data of 499 children (90% of the whole sample). This questionnaire is the official Brazilian survey instrument to measure SES. Even though it does not ask directly the family income, the questionnaire is composed of items that indicate the family’s purchasing power (i.e., the number of electro domestics in their house, the number of cars, personal computers, and the educational level of the family’s householder). The questionnaire is freely available at http://www.abep.org/criterio-brasil. In this study, we used the total score only. However, the questionnaire also provides SES categories.