Differential Item Functioning on Raven’s SPM+ Amongst Two Convenience Samples of Yakuts and Russians

Abstract

National IQ estimates are based on psychometric measurements carried out in a variety of cultural contexts and are often obtained from Raven’s Progressive Matrices tests. In a series of studies, J. Philippe Rushton et al. have argued that these tests are not biased with respect to ethnicity or race. Critics claimed their methods were inappropriate and suggested differential item functioning (DIF) analysis as a more suitable alternative. In the present study, we conduct a DIF analysis on Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices Plus (SPM+) tests administered to convenience samples of Yakuts and ethnic Russians. The Yakuts scored lower than the Russians by 4.8 IQ points, a difference that can be attributed to the selectiveness of the Russian sample. Data from the Yakut (n = 518) and Russian (n = 956) samples were analyzed for DIF using logistic regression. Although items B9, B10, B11, B12, and C11 were identified as having uniform DIF, all of these DIF effects can be regarded as negligible (R2 <0.13). This is consistent with Rushton et al.’s arguments that the Raven’s Progressive Matrices tests are ethnically unbiased.