Contemporary psychology, Vol. 10 No. 1, 2007.
Original scientific paper
Structural equation analysis and the issue of model equivalence
Vesna Buško
orcid.org/0000-0001-8644-0688
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Abstract
A major component of contemporary applied multivariate methodology appears to be the use of latent variable concepts and the models involving latent variables. Advances in covariance structure modeling as a tool for testing structural relations among variables has been complemented by a greater attention given to different data analytic problems and the issue of equivalent models, in particular. Two or more models are defined as equivalent if they reproduce the same set of covariance matrices, with an equal set of fit indices as a necessary consequence of the equivalence. Since the substantive interpretations implied by these models may be very different, equivalent models pose a considerable limitation on the use of structural equation modeling in theory development and construct validation within psychology and other behavioral sciences. The issues on how to handle the problem of equivalence and the advantages of identifying equivalent models are discussed in the paper. Finally, the paper gives an empirical example illustrating the importance of following the assumptions of the psychometric theory in reducing indeterminacy in model specification and model selection procedures.
Keywords
: structural equation analysis; model equivalence; psychometric theory; latent state-trait theory
Hrčak ID:
81384
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2007.
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