Content is related to other aspects of writing, but exactly how they are related has remained unclear or has not received sufficient critical attention. Consequently, in most writing assessments, content has been treated as just one among several relatively distinct but equal elements. However, in this study, the authors have quantified these…

A scaled difference test statistic T[tilde][subscript d] that can be computed from standard software of structural equation models (SEM) by hand calculations was proposed in Satorra and Bentler (Psychometrika 66:507-514, 2001). The statistic T[tilde][subscript d] is asymptotically equivalent to the scaled difference test statistic T[bar][subscript…

Proposed some modified asymptotic distribution free (ADF) test statistics with distributions that are approximated by F distributions. Empirical studies show that the distributions of the new statistics are more closely approximated by F distributions than are the original ADF statistics when referred to chi-square distributions. (SLD)

Developed methods for testing whether or not patterns of incomplete data represent samples from a single population. Results from a simulation study show that the generalized least squares test of homogeneity of means performed close to an ideal Type I error rate for most of the conditions. The generalized least squares test of homogeneity of…

Since data in social and behavioral sciences are often hierarchically organized, special statistical procedures for covariance structure models have been developed to reflect such hierarchical structures. Most of these developments are based on a multivariate normality distribution assumption, which may not be realistic for practical data. It is…

Current practice in structural modeling of variables is limited to means and covariances based on multivariate normality assumptions. This article extends structural equation models to higher order product moments and to non-normal distributions. Areas of possible research are described. (Author/JKS)