ITEMAN is another classical item and test analysis system, created by David Weiss of Assessment Systems Corporation (ASC) way back when.

 

When, exactly? As it happens, about the same time as the first version of Lertap: late 1960s.

 

Iteman 3 is a system which many people used for years. A major update, inspired in part by Lertap, and in larger part by new staff at ASC, came out in late 2010. It's known as Iteman 4.

 

How does Iteman 4 compare to Lertap 5? See these papers: an overview, and a discussion of item flags.

 

Lertap 5 is able to import files made for Iteman 3, and it does so with real ease. This could be a useful and quick way to import data from a scanner. To use the Iteman importer in this manner, you'd first want to download the Iteman user manual from www.assess.com and get an understanding of the four control lines which Iteman wants ahead of the actual data.

 

Access to Lertap's Iteman importer is via the Macs menu. Will this importer also work with Iteman 4 files? Yes and no. Yes because Iteman 4 allows for two input modes: old (meaning Iteman 3), and new (Iteman 4). Iteman 4 users who have their input in Iteman 3 style can use the importer. Should you have an interest in using the new Iteman 4 input style with Lertap, please use let us know (larry@lertap.com).

 

Meanwhile, note that it is very easy to have Lertap create files suitable for input to Iteman 4. Should this be of interest to you, read this topic on Lertap and Xcalibre -- Iteman 4 and Xcalibre 4 share the same input files, so activating Lertap's Xcalibre export feature will result in files suitable for use by Iteman 4 as well as Xcalibre 4.

 

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Related titbits:

 

A paper with more about ITEMAN and Lertap is here: ItemanAndLertap5.pdf (pdf file, about 1.5 MB).

 

A discussion of the correlation methods commonly found in item analysis programs, with emphasis on why Lertap's results sometimes appear at variance: ItemCriterionCorrelations1.doc (Word file, about 190 KB).