Non-identifiability, equivalence classes, and attribute-specific classification in Q-matrix based Cognitive Diagnosis Models

Abstract: There has been growing interest in recent years in Q-matrix based cognitive diagnosis models. Parameter estimation and respondent classification under these models may suffer due to identifiability issues. Non-identifiability can be described by a partition separating attribute profiles into groups of those with identical likelihoods. Marginal identifiability concerns the identifiability of individual attributes. Maximum likelihood estimation of the proportion of respondents within each equivalence class is consistent, making possible a new measure of assessment quality reporting the proportion of respondents for whom each individual attribute is marginally identifiable. Arising from this is a new posterior-based classification method adjusting for non-identifiability.