Analyzing
MOARS Peer-assessment Data with FACETS |
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Step 1 Download
and install the MOARS
audience response system onto your web-server
and install the Peer-assessment Add-on. |
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Step 2 Download
and install FACETS
(paid version) or MINIFAC
(free version). |
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Step 3 From the
MOARS output, save the “Facets_Rating_Specification”
file and the “Facets_data”
files in the same directory/folder. The “Facets_Rating_Specification”
file contains the instructions (specifications)
telling the FACETS software how to read the data file.
The “Facets_data” file
contains the data. You must have both files saved in
the same directory so that FACETS knows where to look
for the data. It is a
good idea to start a new directory for each data set
so that the files for different analyses don’t get
mixed up. I do not recommend saving everything to the
desktop, that’s asking for trouble. |
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Step 4 Drag and
drop the “Facets_Rating_Specification”
file onto the FACETS icon on your desktop. FACETS will
start and prompt for “Extra Specifications”. Click
“OK” to continue the analysis. Next, you will be
prompted for a filename to save the output file to. I
suggest just using the default, which just appends
“.out” to the specification filename. Click “Open” to
save the output file and the FACETS analysis will run. |
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Step 5 The output
file will open. This is a text file that contains the
most important results. There are other outputs
available from the menus in FACETS, including some
graphs and Excel output options, but the most
important stuff is all in the output text file. Quick
Guide to Understanding FACETS Output Files |
Further
Help and Resources The
standard introductory textbook for Rasch analysis is Applying
the Rasch model: Fundamental measurement in the
human sciences, by Trevor Bond and
Christine Fox.
Measuring
Second Language Performance by Tim McNamara
explains the rationale behind many-faceted Rasch
measurement for performance testing and gives
accessible introductions to the concepts behind
FACETS. Applying
Item Response Theory in Language Test Item Bank
Building |
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