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****       CHANGES IN TAM PACKAGE VERSIONS          ****
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Test Analysis Modules (TAM)
T. Kiefer, A. Robitzsch, & M. Wu

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mailto:
-------
Alexander Robitzsch
a.robitzsch@bifie.at

URL:
----
For tutorials see
http://www.edmeasurementsurveys.com/TAM/Tutorials/

For development versions see
https://sites.google.com/site/alexanderrobitzsch/software


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Version 1.1   (2014-10-19)
-------------------------------------------------------

Features:
* added user defined variance function in tam.mml and
  tam.mml.2pl
* added user defined constraints on slope parameters
  in 'tam.mml.3pl'

Bug fixes:
* fixed a bug in deviance computation in 'tam.mml.3pl' when
  stochastic nodes are used
* (hopefully) fixed computational problems in multidimensional models
  with nearly singular covariance matrix 
  (thanks to a discussion with Johannes Hartig)  

Notes:
* added a plot function 'plot.ctt' accompanying the classical test 
  theory based statistic
* fixed a bug in creation of design matrices in faceted models with
  differing categories per item (thanks to Michal Modzelewski). 
  Note that the treatment of faceted models is still not compatible
  with other software (like ConQuest). A substantial bug fix
  is planned in future TAM relaeses. 

Datasets included or modified:
* data.ctest1 (thanks to HGP)

Examples included or modified:
* tam.fit (4), tam.mml (17), tam.ctt (1)


-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Version 1.0-3.18 (2014-09-08)
-------------------------------------------------------

Bug fixes:
x modified incorrectly calculated thresholds with 'tam.threshold'
  for multidimensional models (reported by Janine Buchholz and
  Jrg-Henrik Heine)

Notes:
x included SRMSR fit statistic in tam.modelfit
x included argument "Nsimul" in "tam.fit" which improves
  calculation of fit statistics

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Version 1.0-3 (2014-06-27)
-------------------------------------------------------

Features:
x included model fit statistics (Q3, SRMR, MADRESIDCOV): 'tam.modelfit'
x included 'tam.mml.3pl' for 3PL estimation, general design
  matrices for item slopes and options for discrete 
  latent variables (estimation of latent class models,
  located latent class model, skew distributions,
  mixed IRT models, cognitive diagnosis models, ...
  is now possible)
x extended tam.pv for objects of class 'tam.mml.3pl'
x speeded data preparation of faceted models a bit
x tam.se now computes standard errors for estimated slope parameters, B 
  (for irtmodel in c("2PL", "GPCM", "2PL.groups")); highly experimental 
  for irtmodel="GPCM.design"). 
x plot.tam now prints a message about the location of the exported graphics.
x plot.tam has a new argument 'items' for selecting the items to
  be displayed. RD-file adjusted.
x plot.tam has new arguments 'export.type="png"' and "export.args=list()" for 
  selecting the file type for the graphics export. The supported file types 
  are those supported by ?dev.new. The argument 'export.args=list()' is 
  for specifying a list of arguments for the export device method.
x tam.threshold has a new argument prob.lvl to set the probability level of 
  the thresholds.

Bug fixes:
x fixed a bug in pid output in object 'person' for multidimensional models
  (thanks to Sebastian Weirich)
x fixed a bug in variance estimation for multiple group 2PL models
x included 'designMatrices.mfr2' for a provisional bug fix
  for multifaceted models with differing number of categories
  per item (see Example 16 in tam.mml; thanks to Christoph Duchhardt)
x fixed a bug in 'tam.mml.mfr' for differing number of categories
  per item -> now a xsi vector with parameter fixings to values 
  of 99 is used 
x plot.tam is debugged regarding the case of missing WLEs for some 
  person (thanks to Florian Buchwald). 
x plot.tam now doesn't throw a warning when the 'Plots' directory 
  already exists.
x fixed a bug in plot.tam for cross-platform accordance (thanks to Uli Keller).
x fixed a bug in tam.fit with missing item scores
x fixed a bug in tam.jml so that ../Tutorials/6Population.htm now runs without 
  error.

Notes:
x tam.fit is experimental for objects obtained from tam.mml.mfr.
x changed convergence behavior in tam.wle (thanks to Peter Harych)
x changed item sorting in output object 'item'
x tam.mml(/.2pl/.mfr) methods now return Q, tam.mml.2pl additionaly returns
  B.fixed, basispar, E, and est.slopegroups objects. RD-file adjusted.
x tam.jml(/.jml2) do not return fit statistics anymore. Item and person fit can
  be obtained by a call to tam.fit (/.jml.fit).
x in case of multidimensional analyses, we recommend an update of 
  the R-package mvtnorm to version 0.9-99992 or higher.
x extended example 13 in tam.mml.Rd to the case of polytomous longitudinal 
  data (requested by and thanks to Florian Buchwald)
x extended example 6 in tam.mml.Rd to the specification of sum constraints 
  on the item parameters in a PCM model for differing number of categories.
x Some minor changes in RD-files (eg., irtmodel for argument 'E' in 
  tam.mml.2pl is "GPCM.design", theta value in tam.jml is "MLE in final step").

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Version 1.0-2 (2014-03-26)
-------------------------------------------------------

x fixed a Bug in the optional specification of a B matrix
  in tam.mml.mfr
x new faster tam.mml.wle2; included Rcpp helper functions for 
  tam.mml.wle2 for fast computation; tam.mml.wle2 new 
  reference in tam.wle for objects of class tam.mml, rd-file
  adapted
x tam.mml.mfr now accepts polytomous data with more than 
  ten categories per item
x specification of response matrix in 'long format' fixed,
  see example section (thanks to Takuya Yanagida)
x some minor changes in usability (eg., pid can be specified as 
  vector, one-column matrix or data.frame)

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 1.0 (2014-02-02)
-------------------------------------------------------

x updated DESCRIPTION and NAMESPACE due to changes in Rcpp
x change in package maintenance: now Thomas Kiefer is
  the package maintainer
x fixed a bug in item labeling in tam.se
  (thanks to Sebastian Weirich)
x fixed a bug in labeling of reduced reponse matrices in 
  tam.mml.mfr
x fixed some examples in .Rd files

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.91/0.99 (2013-11-02)
-------------------------------------------------------

x added 'AXsi_' as value in tam.mml, tam.mml.2pl and tam.mml.mfr
x cleaned labels in 'tam.mml.mfr' for faceted models
x included the argument 'score.resp' in tam.wle for scoring
  a new dataset different than the one which is used for item
  calibration in tam (requested by Jan Bhnke)
x added examples for applying a sum constraint of item
  parameters in 'tam.mml' (request by Kelvin Gregory)
x included argument 'adj' in tam.jml/tam.jml2 for modifying 
  the adjustment in case of perfect scores (thanks to Courtney Castle)
x included dataset 'data.timssAusTwn.scored'
x included summary for tam.jml
x use plausible values for calculation in item fit (in tam.mml.fit)
x included an example for creation of user-defined fit statistics

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.9 (2013-10-13)
-------------------------------------------------------

x removed blanks in item category labels in tam.ctt2 and 
  tam.ctt3
x allowed non-integer group labels
x fixed a bug in data preparation for facet models 
  which appeared since a change in TAM 0.7 
  (thanks to Jonathan Williams)

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.8 (2013-10-02)
-------------------------------------------------------

x changed rating scale parametrization for unequal
  number categories per item
x included a warning in tam.ctt2 if memory allocation is
  reached
x included deviance plot 'plotDevianceTAM' 
  (thanks to Sebastian Weirich)
x included tam.ctt3

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.7 (2013-09-15)
-------------------------------------------------------

x include crossprod in some functions
x fixed a bug for using latent regression models in
  facet model function 'tam.mml.mfr'
  (thanks to Jonathan Williams)
x included another facet example (Example 14)
x fixed a bug in tam.mml.mfr if all facets possess
  the same number of levels
x fixed a bug in multidimensional generalized partial
  credit model estimation and speeded 2PL estimation a bit
x included bifactor model and exploratory factor analysis
  -> function 'tam.fa' with arguments irtmodel='efa','bifactor'
x now printing progress in tam.ctt2 correctly
x fixed a bug in data processing in tam.mml.mfr for factor
  or string input of facets
x included more examples in tam.fit, anova.tam.mml, tam.pv,
  tam.jml, tam.se, tam.wle 
x avoided inversion of singular matrices in multidimensional
  WLE estimation tam.wle (thanks to Iasonas Lamprianou)
x removed bugs for item response datasets with only one item
  in tam.mml and tam.mml.2pl
x fixed a bug in tam.ctt2: multiple groups were not displayed 
x included an option for deleting redundant generalized items
  which sometimes improves computation speed
x cleaned the TAM manual (thanks to Michaela Mayr)
x changed output structure of tam.fa and included rotation
  examples in tam.fa.Rd
x included additional convergence stabilizing approach which
  can be activated using the argument 'fac.oldxsi' in control
  -> See Example 15 for such a non-converging model where
     changing algorithmic defaults seems necessary
   (problem addressed thanks to Sebastian Weirich) 
x substituted internal 'theta.sq' function by Rcpp based
  function 'theta.sq2'
x started with including examples similar to the ones in
  the ConQuest 2.0 manual (see data.cqc.Rd)

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.6 (2013-08-28)
-------------------------------------------------------

x fixed a bug when in latent regression when providing a formula
  in argument 'formulaY'
x fixed a bug in output of tam.se (thanks to Sebastian Weirich)
x included a faster alternative to tam.ctt -> tam.ctt2 is based
  on a Rcpp function
x allowed freeing beta constraints by the user by including
  the possible argument beta.fixed=FALSE
x removed a bug in data processing for faceted designs
  (thanks to Michaela Mayr)
x fixed a bug with varying string lengths of facet levels
x fixed a bug in tam.ctt2 for numeric input matrices
x fixed incorrect handling of constraints in regression coefficients
  which was just included in a recent 0.6 version
x fixed an output bug in tam.wle in multidimensional models
  (thanks to Jan Henning-Kahmann)
x accelerated estimation of multdimensional models (different
  approach of calculating the prior distribution)
x fixed a bug when submitting xsi.inits and beta.inits to tam
x fixed a bug in facet models when a facet contains only one
  element (twice thanks to Michaela Mayr)
x included irtmodel='PCM2' (partial credit model with ConQuest
  parametrization) and irtmodel='RSM' (rating scale model)
x added a longitudinal data example in 'tam.mml' manual

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.5 (2013-07-28)
-------------------------------------------------------

x included data.ex11 example dataset
x removed a bug in WLE calculation for multifaceted designs
x avoided warning in cov2cor for tam.mml.2pl function
  (thanks to Linda Graefe)
x included argument increment.factor for obtaining
  convergence behavior in bad suited data constellations
x changed default of np.adj in tam.pv to 8
x included two helper functions written in Rcpp in
  plausible value imputation function tam.pv for
  better performance
x included S3 plot method
x included data.numeracy and data.timssAusTwn
  datasets

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.4 (2013-07-01) 
    [*** First CRAN Release ***]
-------------------------------------------------------

x included quasi-Monte Carlo integration as an alternative
  to stochastic integration
x multifaceted model completely implemented
x print warning if there are items in resp with only zeroes
  (thanks to Ronny Scherer)
x fixed a bug in tam.wle, tam.pv and tam.se
x fixed a bug in creating design matrices for faceted designs
x changed initial xsi values for indetermined parameters
  (thanks to Sebastian Weirich)
x included function for calculating Thurstonian thresholds
x included Rcpp function in M step for calculating item parameters
x fixed a bug for partial credit models
x included parametrization of the dispersion model for ordered data
x included a function tam.ctt for calculating some statistics
  based on classical test theory
x fixed a bug in tam.mml.2pl with irtmodel="GPCM" for models
   with differering numbers of item categories

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.3 (2013-03-23)
-------------------------------------------------------

x cleaned Rd manual files a bit
x included standard errors in tam.mml and tam.mml.2pl
x included summary.tam and summary.tam.mml
x included anova.tam for model comparisons
x fixed a bug in multiple group estimation during tam.mml and
   summary application
x fixed a bug in WLE estimation in the multdimensional case

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Versions 0.2 (2013-02-20)
-------------------------------------------------------

x removed bugs in tam.pv for sampling plausible values
  with the argument normal.approx=FALSE 
  (thanks to Sebastian Weirich)
x included seed for stochastic integration in the tam
  control argument
x fixed a bug in stochastic integration
  (thanks to Steffen Brandt)
x fixed a bug in the calculation of reliability and person
  parameter estimates when applying stochastic integration
  (thanks to Steffen Brandt and Caroline Just)
x use estimated parameters with minimal deviance in the output
  (thanks to Ulrich Schroeders and Steffen Brandt)

-------------------------------------------------------
Changes in Version 0.1-03 (2012-11-21)
-------------------------------------------------------

x 2PL calibration outsourced
x designMatrices and tam.mml.mfr method for multifacet rasch model 
  calibration included. Both highly experimental.
x Examples for the calibration included, see help file of sim.mfr
 