June 2026 Live Online Short Course

This introductory course requires no previous knowledge of structural equation modeling (SEM), but participants should possess a strong understanding of regression AND have understanding about the basic data handling functions using R. All illustrations and in-class exercises will make use of the R LAVAAN package, and participants will be expected to have LAVAAN installed on their laptop computers prior to beginning of the course. No course time will be spent going over basic R data handling and installing the LAVAAN package. The course will start with an overview of the principals underlying SEM. Subsequently, we move into measurement model evaluation including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Time will be spent on interpreting the parameter estimates and comparing competing measurement models for correlated constructs. We will then move onto path model evaluation where paths representing “causal” relations are placed between the latent variables. Again, time will be spent on interpreting the various parameter estimates and determining whether the path models add anything above their underlying measurement models. If time permits, longitudinal models will be introduced.

Required Software: R installed with LAVAAN package