mstATA: Automated Test Assembly for Multistage Tests Using Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

Provides a suite of mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model builders and solvers—including 'Gurobi', 'HiGHS', 'Symphony', 'GNU Linear Programming Kit (GLPK)', and 'lpSolve'—for automated test assembly (ATA) in multistage testing (MST). Offers filtering of decision variables through item–module eligibility and the application of explicit bounds to simplify the MILP model and accelerate the optimization process. Supports bottom up, top down, and hybrid assembly strategies; enemy-item and enemy-stimulus exclusions; stimulus all in/all out or partial selection; anchor item/stimulus specification; and item exposure control. Accommodates both single-objective and multi-objective optimization ('weighted sum', 'maximin', 'capped maximin', 'minimax', and 'goal programming'). Enables simultaneous assembly of multiple panels with item and stimulus content balancing and exposure control. Provides analytical evaluation of assembled MST performance within seconds. Includes tools for diagnosing infeasible optimization models by systematically identifying sources of infeasibility and reformulating models with slack variables to restore feasibility.Methods implemented in this package build on established work in optimal test assembly (van der Linden, 2005 <doi:10.1007/0-387-29054-0>), item-set constrained test assembly (van der Linden, 2000 <doi:10.1177/01466210022031697>), hybrid assembly (Xiong, 2018 <doi:10.1177/0146621618762739>), recursion-based analytic methods (Lim et al., 2021 <doi:10.1111/jedm.12276>), and classification evaluation (Rudner, 2000 <doi:10.7275/an9m-2035>; Rudner, 2005 <doi:10.7275/56a5-6b14>).

Version:	0.1.0
Depends:	R (≥ 4.0)
Imports:	stats, utils, dplyr, rlang, methods, Matrix, ggplot2
Suggests:	testthat (≥ 3.0.0), knitr, rmarkdown, kableExtra, highs, lpSolveAPI, Rglpk, Rsymphony, irtQ, mstR, numDeriv, ggformula, ggpubr
Published:	2026-03-23
DOI:	10.32614/CRAN.package.mstATA
Author:	Hong Chen [aut, cre]
Maintainer:	Hong Chen <hongchen030 at gmail.com>
BugReports:	https://github.com/Hongchen030/mstATA/issues
License:	MIT + file LICENSE
URL:	https://github.com/Hongchen030/mstATA
NeedsCompilation:	no
Materials:	README, NEWS
CRAN checks:	mstATA results

Documentation:

Reference manual:	mstATA.html , mstATA.pdf
Vignettes:	Detecting and Resolving Infeasibility (source, R code) Formulation for Multiple Objectives (source, R code) Getting Started with mstATA: A Complete Workflow (source, R code) Stimulus-Based Assessment in mstATA: Conditional Item Selection (source, R code) Three ATA Strategies (source, R code)

Downloads:

Package source:	mstATA_0.1.0.tar.gz
Windows binaries:	r-devel: mstATA_0.1.0.zip, r-release: mstATA_0.1.0.zip, r-oldrel: mstATA_0.1.0.zip
macOS binaries:	r-release (arm64): mstATA_0.1.0.tgz, r-oldrel (arm64): not available, r-release (x86_64): mstATA_0.1.0.tgz, r-oldrel (x86_64): mstATA_0.1.0.tgz

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