Mediation analysis is an important statistical tool in many research fields, where the joint significance test is widely utilized for examining mediation effects. Nevertheless, the limitation of this mediation testing method stems from its conservative Type I error, which reduces its statistical power and imposes certain constraints on its…

Latent class analysis (LCA) refers to techniques for identifying groups in data based on a parametric model. Examples include mixture models, LCA with ordinal indicators, and latent class growth analysis. Despite its popularity, there is limited guidance with respect to decisions that must be made when conducting and reporting LCA. Moreover, there…

The use of structural equation models for causal inference from panel data is critiqued in the causal inference literature for unnecessarily relying on a large number of parametric assumptions, and alternative methods originating from the potential outcomes framework have been recommended, such as inverse probability weighting (IPW) estimation of…

Research in human development often relies on composites, that is, composed variables such as indices. Their composite nature renders these variables inaccessible to conventional factor-centric psychometric validation techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the context of human development research, there is currently no…

Researchers tasked with understanding the effects of educational technology innovations face the challenge of providing evidence of causality. Given the complexities of studying learning in authentic contexts interwoven with technological affordances, conducting tightly-controlled randomized experiments is not always feasible nor desirable. Today,…

Generalized structured component analysis (GSCA) is a multivariate method for specifying and examining interrelationships between observed variables and components. Despite its data-analytic flexibility honed over the decade, GSCA always defines every component as a linear function of observed variables, which can be less optimal when observed…

The present work focuses on the performance of two types of shrinkage priors--the horseshoe prior and the recently developed regularized horseshoe prior--in the context of inducing sparsity in path analysis and growth curve models. Prior research has shown that these horseshoe priors induce sparsity by at least as much as the "gold…

Bayesian inference for structural equation models (SEMs) is increasingly popular in social and psychological sciences owing to its flexibility to adapt to more complex models and the ability to include prior information if available. However, there are two major hurdles in using the traditional Bayesian SEM in practice: (1) the information nested…

Complex social scientific theories are conventionally tested using linear structural equation modeling (SEM). However, the underlying assumptions of linear SEM often prove unrealistic, making the decomposition of direct and indirect effects problematic. Recent advancements in causal mediation analysis can help to address these shortcomings,…

Meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) refers to fitting structural equation models (SEMs) (such as path models or factor models) to meta-analytic data. Currently, fitting MASEMs may be challenging for researchers that are not accustomed to working with R software and packages. Therefore, we developed webMASEM; a web application for…

JMP® Pro has introduced a new structural equation modeling (SEM) platform to its suite of multivariate methods of analysis. Utilizing their graphical user interface, JMP Pro has created a SEM platform that is easily navigable for both experienced and novice SEM users. As a new platform, JMP Pro does not have the capacity to implement certain…

Researchers in behavioral sciences are often interested in longitudinal behavior change outcomes and the mechanisms that influence changes in these outcomes over time. The statistical models that are typically implemented to address these research questions do not allow for investigation of mechanisms of dynamic change over time. However, latent…

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is being applied to ever more complex data types and questions, often requiring extensions such as regularization or novel fitting functions. To extend SEM, researchers currently need to completely reformulate SEM and its optimization algorithm -- a challenging and time-consuming task. In this paper, we introduce…

Meta-analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) are 2 of the most prominent statistical techniques employed in the behavioral, medical, and social sciences. They each have their own well-established research communities, terminologies, statistical models, software packages, and journals ("Research Synthesis Methods" and…

Moderators are variables that affect the relationship between a predictor and outcome. They help to clarify otherwise ambiguous patterns of results, extend theory, and signal the growth of a field. Given the importance of moderators, the authors offer an overview of methodological and statistical considerations for testing moderation and then…