THE RASCH APPROACH TO "OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT' m THE PRESENCE OF SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION FROM "JUDGES"

Abstract

A variety of human activities - sport, education, finance, research, professional development, feeding - require the participation of judges in order to evalúate aspects that are difficult to be measured directly. As this evaluations may have important consequences on the examined subjects, it is necessary to research the máximum objectivity in the evaluation process. The Rasch model is the unique statistical model that assures the construction of objective measure- ments, even in the presence of judges evaluations. This paper reviews Rasch models theory and proposes an application to data concerning the evaluation of projects presented for a funding competition. The serious alterations that arise from the use of the rough scores instead of the Rasch measures are explored.