Anton K. Formann (August 27, 1949, Vienna, Austria – July 12, 2010, Vienna) was an Austrian research

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how ...

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

, and psychometrician. He is renowned for his contributions to

item response theory In psychometrics, item response theory (IRT) (also known as latent trait theory, strong true score theory, or modern mental test theory) is a paradigm for the design, analysis, and scoring of tests, questionnaires, and similar instruments measur ...

(

Rasch model The Rasch model, named after Georg Rasch, is a psychometric model for analyzing categorical data, such as answers to questions on a reading assessment or questionnaire responses, as a function of the trade-off between the respondent's abilities, ...

s), latent class analysis, the measurement of change, mixture models, categorical data analysis, and quantitative methods for research synthesis (meta-analysis).

Biography

Anton K. Formann studied psychology with statistics and anthropology (individual curriculum approved by the university) at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, where he received his PhD in psychology in 1973 under the supervision of Gerhard H. Fischer at the university's Department of Psychology. He worked as a post doc researcher and Assistant Professor at Fischer's division until 1985, when he earned his postdoctoral professorial qualification (

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

in psychology) and became Associate Professor at the University of Vienna. He also studied statistics at Sheffield Hallam University (UK) where he graduated (MSc with distinction) in 1998. In 1999, he gained his second postdoctoral professional qualification (

applied statistics Statistics (from German: ''Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industria ...

). In 2004, after being substitute chair holder for 5 years, he became

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

for psychological methods at the University of Vienna, succeeding the chair of mathematical psychology of Gerhard H. Fischer. From 2005 onwards, Formann was Vice Head of the Department of Basic Psychological Research within the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna, and during 2006-08 additionally Vice Dean of the Faculty.

Scientific Work

Formann led long-standing research collaborations with colleagues in the statistical, medical, and psychological sciences. His substantial research activities in all these fields are documented in numerous books and more than 50 publications in prestigious high-impact journals, including

Biometrics Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify ...

, the

Journal of the American Statistical Association The ''Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA)'' is the primary journal published by the American Statistical Association, the main professional body for statisticians in the United States. It is published four times a year in Ma ...

, the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology,Nader, I. W., Tran, U. S., & Formann, A. K. (2011). Sensitivity to initial values in full non-parametric maximum-likelihood estimation of the two-parameter logistic model. ''British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 64,'' 320-336. and Psychometrika.

Item response theory (Rasch models)

Formann was one of the first researchers who documented problems with

tests, in particular with Andersen's

likelihood-ratio test In statistics, the likelihood-ratio test assesses the goodness of fit of two competing statistical models based on the ratio of their likelihoods, specifically one found by maximization over the entire parameter space and another found after ...

which arise under certain conditions if it is employed conventionally.Böhning, D., Holling, H., & Kubinger, K. D. (2010). In memoriam Anton K. Formann. ''Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, 52,'' 491-492. As a senior author, Formann also showed that the common assumption that the EM estimation of the two-parameter logistic model is not influenced by initial values is incorrect.

Viennese Matrices Test

Formann was probably the first researcher to practically apply Fischer's linear logistic test model (LLTM) for test development. The LLTM is a special case of the

, which allows the construction of items with item difficulties based on the user's demand. This resulted in the development of a Rasch-scaled abstract

reasoning Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, lang ...

test (based on Raven's matrices test) which has since been widely used in research and practice. A revised version of this language-free

intelligence test An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term ''Intelligen ...

that has been calibrated against large contemporary samples of men and women is forthcoming.

Latent Class Analysis

For his first

(in psychology), Formann published a comprehensive monograph on latent class analysis which continues to be widely cited for its clarity, depth, and originality, and hence is considered a true modern classic on this topic.

Quantitative Methods for Research Synthesis (Meta-Analysis)

In his later research, Formann addressed, among other things, the problem of

publication bias In published academic research, publication bias occurs when the outcome of an experiment or research study biases the decision to publish or otherwise distribute it. Publishing only results that show a significant finding disturbs the balance ...

in meta-analytic research. He introduced a novel method that allows estimating the proportion of studies missing in meta-analysis due to

based on the

truncated normal distribution In probability and statistics, the truncated normal distribution is the probability distribution derived from that of a normally distributed random variable by bounding the random variable from either below or above (or both). The truncated no ...

. In 2010, as the senior author, Formann debunked in a meta-analysis the famous Mozart effect as a myth.

Other

Newcomb-Benford Law

Formann provided an alternative explanation for the Newcomb-Benford law – a formalisation of the remarkable observation that the

frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from '' angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is e ...

with which the leading

digit Digit may refer to: Mathematics and science * Numerical digit, as used in mathematics or computer science ** Hindu-Arabic numerals, the most common modern representation of numerical digits * Digit (anatomy), the most distal part of a limb, such ...

s of numbers occur in large

data set A data set (or dataset) is a collection of data. In the case of tabular data, a data set corresponds to one or more database tables, where every column of a table represents a particular variable, and each row corresponds to a given record of the d ...

s are far away from being

uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...

(e.g., the leading digit 1 occurs in nearly one third of all cases). In addition to the prevailing explanations based on

scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

- and base invariance, Formann directed the attention to the interrelation between the

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

of the significant digits and the distribution of the observed variable. He showed in a simulation study that long right-tailed distributions of a

random variable A random variable (also called random quantity, aleatory variable, or stochastic variable) is a mathematical formalization of a quantity or object which depends on random events. It is a mapping or a function from possible outcomes (e.g., the p ...

are compatible with the Newcomb-Benford law, and that for distributions of the ratio of two random variables the fit generally improves.

Piaget's Water Level Task

The water-level task refers to a task developed by

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology ...

where bottles filled with different levels of water are presented in different

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the '' vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles ...

s of orientation. It is used to assess the level of mental development of spatial abilities (e.g., recognition of the invariance of horizontality). Formann criticized the established method of dichotomizing water-level responses by the subjects into "right" versus "wrong" – he showed that this method was inappropriate because it ignored the heterogeneity of the task difficulties - and instead recommended using latent class models or

s.Formann, A. K. (2003). Modeling data from water-level tasks: A test theoretical analysis. ''Perceptual and Motor Skills, 96,'' 1153-1172. He showed that subjects and tasks can be arrayed on a

unidimensional In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coordina ...

scale and, by employing the linear logistic test model, that the task difficulty could be attributed to a single

parameter A parameter (), generally, is any characteristic that can help in defining or classifying a particular system (meaning an event, project, object, situation, etc.). That is, a parameter is an element of a system that is useful, or critical, when ...

associated with the angle of

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

of the bottle. Furthermore, he provided the first empirical data of task performance of the

elderly Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

and found that there was an age-associated non-linear decline of performance.

Misconception of Probability

Formann compared the performance in the classic birthday problem (i.e., guessing the probability ''P'' for any coincidence among ''N'' individuals sharing the same birthday) and the birthmate problem (i.e., guessing the probability ''P'' for the specific coincidence among ''N'' individuals of having a birthday today) in psychology

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

, casino visitors, and casino employees. Psychology students and women did better on both task types, but were less confident about their estimates than casino visitors or personnel and men. Higher confidence ratings were related to subjective estimates that were closer to the solutions of birthday problems, but not of birthmate problems.

Parallel Analysis in Retrieving Unidimensionality in the Presence of Binary Data

Formann provided both theoretical and empirical evidence that the application of the parallel analysis for uncovering the factorial structure of binary variables is not appropriate. Results of a simulation study showed that

sample size Sample size determination is the act of choosing the number of observations or replicates to include in a statistical sample. The sample size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is to make inferences about a populatio ...

, item discrimination, and type of

correlation coefficient A correlation coefficient is a numerical measure of some type of correlation, meaning a statistical relationship between two variables. The variables may be two columns of a given data set of observations, often called a sample, or two componen ...

considerably influence the performance of parallel analysis.

Selected publications

Papers

* Formann, A. K. (1978). Note on parameter-estimation for Lazarsfeld latent class analysis. ''Psychometrika, 43,'' 123-126. * Formann, A. K. (1985). Constrained latent class models: Theory and applications. ''British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 38,'' 87-111. * Formann, A. K. (1986). A note on the computation of the 2nd-order derivatives of the elementary symmetrical functions in the Rasch model. ''Psychometrika, 51,'' 335-339. * Formann, A. K., & Rop, I. (1987). On the inhomogeneity of a test compounded of 2 Rasch homogeneous subscales. ''Psychometrika, 52,'' 263-267. * Formann, A. K. (1988). Latent class models for nonmonotone dichotomous items. ''Psychometrika, 53,'' 45-62. * Formann, A. K. (1989). Constrained latent class models: Some further applications. ''British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 42,'' 37-54. * Formann, A. K. (1992). Linear logistic latent class analysis for polytomous data. ''Journal of the American Statistical Association, 87,'' 476-486. * Formann, A. K. (1993). Fixed-distance latent class models for the analysis of sets of two-way contingency tables. ''Biometrics, 49,'' 511-521. * Formann, A. K. (1994). Measurement errors in caries diagnosis: Some further latent class models. ''Biometrics, 50,'' 865-871. * Formann, A. K. (1994). Measuring change in latent subgroups using dichotomous data: Unconditional, conditional, and semiparametric maximum-likelihood-estimation. ''Journal of the American Statistical Association, 89,'' 1027-1034. * Formann, A. K., & Kohlmann, T. (1996). Latent class analysis in medical research. ''Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 5,'' 179-211. * Formann, A. K., & Kohlmann, T. (1998). Structural latent class models. ''Sociological Methods and Research, 26,'' 530-565. * Formann, A. K. (2001). Misspecifying latent class models by mixture binomials. ''British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 54,'' 279-291. * Formann, A. K., & Ponocny, I. (2002). Latent change classes in dichotomous data. ''Psychometrika, 67,'' 437-457. * Formann, A. K. (2003). Latent class model diagnosis from a frequentist point of view. ''Biometrics, 59,'' 189-196. * Formann, A. K. (2003). Modeling data from water-level tasks: A test theoretical analysis. ''Perceptual and Motor Skills, 96,'' 1153-1172. * Voracek, M., & Formann, A. K. (2004). Variation in European suicide rates is better accounted for by latitude and longitude than by national percentage of Finno-Ugrians and Type O blood: A rebuttal of Lester and Kondrichin (2004). ''Perceptual and Motor Skills, 99,'' 1243-1250. * Formann, A. K. (2006). Mixture analysis of longitudinal binary data. ''Statistics in Medicine, 25,'' 1457-1469. * Formann, A. K. (2006). Testing the Rasch model by means of the mixture fit index. ''British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 59,'' 89-95. * Formann, A. K. (2007). Mixture analysis of multivariate categorical data with covariates and missing entries. ''Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 51,'' 5236-5246. * Formann, A. K. (2008). Estimating the proportion of studies missing for meta-analysis due to publication bias. ''Contemporary Clinical Trials, 29,'' 732-739. * Formann, A. K., & Böhning, D. (2008). Re: Insights into latent class analysis of diagnostic test performance. ''Biostatistics, 9,'' 777-778. * Tran, U. S., & Formann, A. K. (2008). Piaget's water-level tasks: Performance across the lifespan with emphasis on the elderly. ''Personality and Individual Differences, 45,'' 232-237. * Voracek, M., Tran, U. S., & Formann, A. K. (2008). Birthday and birthmate problems: Misconceptions of probability among psychology undergraduates and casino visitors and personnel. ''Perceptual and Motor Skills, 106,'' 91-103. * Tran, U. S., & Formann, A. K. (2009). Performance of parallel analysis in retrieving unidimensionality in the presence of binary data. ''Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69,'' 50-61. * Formann, A. K. (2010). The Newcomb-Benford law in its relation to some common distributions. ''PLoS ONE, 5,'' e10541. * Voracek, M., Gabler, D., Kreutzer, C., Stieger, S., Swami, V., & Formann, A. K. (2010). Multi-method personality assessment of butchers and hunters: Beliefs and reality. ''Personality and Individual Differences, 49,'' 819-822. * Voracek, M., Tran, U. S., Fischer-Kern, M., Formann, A. K., & Springer-Kremser, M. (2010). Like father, like son? Familial aggregation of physicians among medical and psychology students in Austria. ''Higher Education, 59,'' 737-748. * Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M., & Formann, A. K. (2010). Mozart effect––Shmozart effect: A meta-analysis. ''Intelligence, 38,'' 314-323. * Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M., & Formann, A. K. (2010). Pervasiveness of the IQ rise: A cross-temporal meta-analysis. ''PLoS ONE, 5,'' e14406. * Nader, I. W., Tran, U. S., & Formann, A. K. (2011). Sensitivity to initial values in full non-parametric maximum-likelihood estimation of the two-parameter logistic model. ''British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 64,'' 320-336. * Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M., & Formann, A. K. (2011). Female Flynn effects: No sex differences in generational IQ gains. ''Personality and Individual Differences, 50,'' 759-762. * Stieger, S., Formann, A. K., & Burger, C. (2011). Humor styles and their relationship to explicit and implicit self-esteem. ''Personality and Individual Differences, 50,'' 747-750. * Stieger, S., Voracek, M., & Formann, A. K. (2012). How to administer the Initial Preference Task. ''European Journal of Personality, 26,'' 63-78. * Preinerstorfer, D., & Formann, A. K. (2012). Parameter recovery and model selection in mixed Rasch models. ''British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 65,'' 251-262. * Holling, H., Böhning, W., Böhning, D., & Formann, A. K. (2013). The covariate-adjusted frequency plot. ''Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 25,'' 902-916.

Books

* Formann, A. K., & Piswanger, K. (1979). ''Wiener Matrizen-Test. Ein Rasch-skalierter sprachfreier Intelligenztest iennese Matrices Test: A Rasch-scaled culture-fair intelligence test'. Weinheim: Beltz. * Formann, A. K. (1984). ''Latent Class Analyse: Einführung in die Theorie und Anwendung atent class analysis: Introduction to theory and application'. Weinheim: Beltz. * Formann, A. K., Waldherr, K., & Piswanger, K. (2011). ''Wiener Matrizen-Test 2 (WMT-2): Ein Rasch-skalierter sprachfreier Kurztest zur Erfassung der Intelligenz iennese Matrices Test 2: A Rasch-scaled language-free short test for the assessment of intelligence'. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

External links

*
Anton K. Formann Memorial Pages

Official Website of the Department of Basic Psychological Research (University of Vienna)

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928160628/http://www.tibs.org/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Biometric_Bulletin/IBS%20Bulletin%20Vol%203%202010.pdf Obituary in Biometric Bulletin by Voracek, M.]Voracek, M. (2010). In memoriam: Anton K. Formann (1949-2010). ''Biometric Bulletin, 27(3),'' 7-8.
Obituary in Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling by Böhning, D., Holling, H., & Kubinger, K. D.
ref name="PsychTest"/> * Gerhard H. Fischer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Formann, Anton K. Austrian psychologists Austrian statisticians 1949 births 2010 deaths Academics of the University of Vienna University of Vienna alumni Scientists from Vienna 20th-century Austrian scientists 21st-century Austrian scientists