Assessment of adult cognitive abilities in Greece: A differential item functioning study of the General Ability Measure for Adults (GAMA)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the generalizability and possible adaptation for use of a non-verbal measure of intelligence developed in the United States, the General Ability Measure for Adults (GAMA; Naglieri & Bardos, 1997) in Greece. As a validity evidence the study examined the differential item function of its questions in order to explore potential item bias utilizing the disproportionate group probabilities of participants’ correctly endorsing test items. The analysis was performed using a logistic regression procedure with samples from the United States (n = 2,369) and Greece (n = 1,273). The findings indicate a small (<1%) number of items that work differentially between these two cultural groups. Implications for the development and weighting of cross-cultural intelligence assessment tests using non-verbal measures are discussed.

Keywords

• Intelligence assessment,
• Intercultural assessment,
• Differential element/question function