The proposed thesis must be either:
- an empirical study, but with an existing dataset that is cleared prior to the topic announcement (no planned/ongoing data)
- a method evaluation through a Monte Carlo simulation
- a meta-study which involves data extraction from already published results
We provide a list of suggested thesis topics in the first semester of the Master's Programme. You will then choose three thesis topics of interest within a deadline set in the second semester. You get your thesis topic before the end of the second semester. The formalization through the supervision agreement is set in August/September of your third semester.
Own topic?
It is possible to come up with your own idea for a thesis topic, but it still needs to comply with the above requirements and you will need to find yourself a supervisor at CEMO who is willing to supervise a thesis on said topic. When you have the topic worked out more concretely, ask your supervisor to get your topic approved by the programme board. Thus, this option requires a bit more preparation and communication, so don't delay if you want to go down that route.
Thesis topics with external partners 2024/25
CEMO Internal Thesis Topics 2024/25
- Robustness of marginal maximum likelihood estimation of multidimensional item response theory models. Supervised by Assoc. Prof. dr. Björn Andersson and PhD fellow Lu Zhang
- Solution patterns in a problem-solving task: consistency across educational systems. Supervised by Assoc. Prof. dr. Björn Andersson and and dr. Maoxin Zhang
- Teachers’ confidence, instruction, and acceptance in teaching with technology from a longitudinal perspective. Supervised by Prof. dr. Ronny Scherer
- Aberrant item response patterns in international large-scale assessments in education. Supervised by Prof. dr. Johan Braeken, PhD fellow Jianan Chen, and dr. Saskia van Laar (University of Maastricht)
- Probing robustness and generalizability of machine learning models predicting academic resilience. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Esther Ulitzsch, Assoc. prof. dr. Nani Teig (University of Oslo), Assoc. prof. dr. Qiwei He (Georgetown University), and dr. Artur Pokropek (Polish Academy of Sciences)
- Investigating the consequences of model misspecification in mixture IRT models for careless and insufficient effort responding. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Esther Ulitzsch
- Investigating data augmentation techniques for handling item omissions in large-scale assessments. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Esther Ulitzsch
- Decline in mathematics performance PISA 2012-2022. Supervised by Prof. dr. Rolf Vegar Olsen & representative of PISA Norway project group (dr. Fredrik Jensen or dr. Andreas Pettersen, UiO, ILS)
- Why are some countries consistently on top of the “league tables” in international comparative assessment? Supervised by Prof. dr. Rolf Vegar Olsen & representative of PISA Norway project group (dr. Fredrik Jensen or dr. Andreas Pettersen, UiO, ILS)
Thesis topics with external partners 2024/25
- Potential impact of residual correlations in subtests of the Norwegian National Reading test. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Björn Andersson & a contact person at Utdanningsdirektoratet (UDIR)
- Predicting physical fitness of military recruits based on information gathered in the selection process to conscription in the Norwegian Army. Supervised by Prof.dr. Johan Braeken & Tore Norrøne (Forsvaret: Norwegian Armed Forces)
- Low- versus High-stakes Mode-effects in Pre-Post Calibration for large-scale testing. Supervised by Johan Braeken and Arne Oftedal Rossow (Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse)
- Cross-lingual equating in National Benchmark Testing (NBT): A study on IRT parameter stability. Supervised by Prof.dr. Johan Braeken & Tatiana Sango (Centre of Educational Assessments, University of Capetown)
- Investigating factors influencing changes in IRT parameter estimates for the same items across different test forms and/or time. Supervised by Prof.dr. Johan Braeken & Tatiana Sango (Centre of Educational Assessments, University of Capetown)
CEMO Thesis Topics 2023/24
CEMO Internal Thesis Topics 2023/24
Detailed description of topics can be found on Canvas.
- The Role of GPA Luck in Lower-Secondary Education. Supervised by Assoc. Prof. dr. Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør and PhD fellow José Manuel Arencibia Aleman
- Synthetic matching routines to create longitudinal measures. Supervised by Adjunct prof. dr. Leslie Rutkowski
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What is behind the declining PIRLS achievement scores in South Africa?. Supervised by Adjunct prof. dr. Leslie Rutkowski
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Improving on the practice and reporting of factor analysis results in the context of scale validation. Supervised by Prof. dr. Johan Braeken and PhD fellow Kseniia Marcq
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Robustness of marginal maximum likelihood estimation of multidimensional item response theory models. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Björn Andersson and PhD fellow Yuriko Kirilovna Sosa Paredes
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Assessing the Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Educational Outcomes: A Comparison of Quasi-Experimental Methods. Supervised by Adjunct prof. dr. David Rutkowski
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Cross-regional measurement invariance of the First and Second International Mathematics Study. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Björn Andersson and PhD fellow Yuriko Kirilovna Sosa Paredes
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Casting the net—How psychometric network models can inform the factor structure of constructs in TALIS 2018. Supervised by Prof. dr. Ronny Scherer and PhD fellow Diego Gonzalez Campos
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Moving forward in the digital age—The development of teachers’ confidence, instruction, and acceptance in teaching with technology. Supervised by Prof. dr. Ronny Scherer
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Who becomes a teacher or a doctor? Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Stefan Schauber and postdoctoral fellow dr. Tim Fütterer
Thesis topics with external partners 2023/24
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Linking with randomly assigned anchor items: evaluating a new linking design for the Norwegian National Numeracy tests. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Björn Andersson & a contact person at Utdanningsdirektoratet
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Benefits of multi-stage testing in the Norwegian National Numeracy tests. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Björn Andersson & a contact person at Utdanningsdirektoratet
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Potential impact of residual correlations in subtests of the Norwegian National Reading test. Supervised by Assoc. prof. dr. Björn Andersson & a contact person at Utdanningsdirektoratet
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Validating the Norwegian Pupil Survey as a measure of school quality. Supervised by Rolf Vegar Olsen
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Mode-effects in large-scale testing. Supervised by Johan Braeken and Arne Oftedal Rossow (Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse)
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Personality change in a large clinical sample of personality-disordered patients. Supervised by Johan Braeken and Benjamin Hummelen (Personality Disorders Research Unit at Oslo University Hospital)
Webform is closed and will open again spring 2024
CEMO Thesis Topics 2022/23
- Standsrd Errors in IRT: Approximate maximum likelihood estimation of multidimensional item response theory models: standard error estimation and robustness to non-normality. Supervised by Björn Andersson (CEMO).
- Model Choices and Scoring Methods: Assessing changes in cognition over time: Impact of model choice and scoring method. Supervised by Björn Andersson (CEMO).
- Computerized Adaptive Testing: Shortening the Teat. Supervised by: Johan Braeken (CEMO) & Leo Roorda (Duch-Flemish PROMIS).
- Personality change in a large clinical sample of personality-disordered patients. Supervised by: Johan Braeken (CEMO) and Benjamin Hummelen (Personality Disorder Research Unit and Oslo University Hospital)
- Item Format: Differential Impact of Item Format in International Large-scale Assessments in Education. Supervised by Johan Braeken (CEMO) and Kseniia Marcq (CEMO)
- School innovativeness. Supervised by Sigrid Blömeke (CEMO)
- Validating the Norwegian Student Survey. Supervised by Rolf Vegar Olsen (CEMO)
- Validating the Norwegian translation and adaptation of the Self-perceived Action Competence for Sustainability Questionnaire (SPACS-Q) and the Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ-27). Supervised by: Rolf Vegar Olsen (CEMO) & Daniel Olsson (Karlstad University)
- School Quality: Validating the Norwegian Pupil Survey as a measure of school quality. Supervised by Rolf Vegar Olsen
- Cognitive Diagnostic Models: The classification accuracy and consistency in cognitive diagnostic models. Supervised by Chia-Wen Chen (CEMO) & Peida Zhan (Zhejiang Normal University)
- Students’ knowledge status, response certainty, and response accuracy. Supervised by Chia-Wen Chen (CEMO)
CEMO Thesis Topics 2021/22
- Test-taking engagement in solving mathematics digital tasks: Construct validation of observed measures extracted from PISA2012 logfiles
- Model selection using a stepwise Bayesian information criterion approach in multiple group models with binary data
- Relative age effects in school outcomes
- Classification accuracy of equated item response theory scores and sum scores under model specification
- Pathways to financial well-being: The role of financial literacy, financial capabilities, financial attitudes and confidence
- Analytical and resampling approaches to account for bandwidth selection variability in estimating standard errors of kernel equating
- A comparative study on gender differences: The role of early literacy activities, parents' education, and teacher characteristics in the Nordic countries' PIRLS reading achievement
In collaboration with external partners
- Differential item functioning with matching criterion purification for the examination of item drift in Norwegian language testing
- with Kompetanse Norge
- Validity and reliability of growth mindset scales
- with Made to Grow
- Investigating the underlying item characteristics in NIFU's 1+1 test for elementary mathematics
- with NIFU