Introduction to Structural Equation Modeling using Mplus

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label Diverse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:00 history_edu Maria Dumitru
More and more researchers in the social and behavioral sciences use, or want to use, Mplus to analyze their structural equation models or multilevel models. If you need to analyze your data in Mplus or if you want to know when to switch to Mplus, this course is for you. This course is a four day course on structural equation modeling (SEM) using Mplus.

The course starts with an introduction of structural equation modeling with some emphasis on the specific way Mplus is used to specify and estimate models and how to deal with error messages. The second day introduces multigroup models, confirmatory factor analysis and how Mplus deals with data that is not distributed normally. On the third day, longitudinal models (cross lagged panel designs and latent growth curves) are presented.

The fourth day is about a new feature of Mplus 6.x: Bayesian statistics. On each day, the morning session consists of lectures, and the afternoon session of a computer lab where everyone can practice working with Mplus. The fifth day is reserved for individual meetings where you can get advice about your own research.

Period
19-08-2013 - 23-08-2013 (1 weeks)

Target group
(Master) Students or (post-graduate) researchers who already have a basic knowledge of regression analysis and preferably some knowledge of structural equation modelling and have used software like AMOS, LISREL , Mx or EQS No previous knowledge of Mplus is assumed. You do not need to know matrix algebra, calculus, or likelihood theory, or any knowledge on Bayesian statistics. Participants from a variety of fields, including sociology, psychology, education, human development, marketing, business, biology, medicine, political science, and communication sciences, will benefit from the course.

A good working knowledge of multivariate analysis is assumed. Some knowledge of structural equation modelling is helpful, since the course has a fairly fast pace, especially on the third day. We recommend to read s parts of R.B. Kline (2010). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. New York: The Guilford Press. It is not mandatory to read this, but prior knowledge of SEM on this level will make this course much more useful. The Mplus users guide can be downloaded here. Fair warning: this guide is over 800 pages, and it is frequently updated, we recommend having it available but not printing it.

Course aim
The main objective of the course is to acquire a basic understanding of how structural equation models as applied in the social and behavioral sciences are analyzed using the software Mplus. Moreover, the participants will learn how to analyze data sets with the Mplus program, to interpret the output and to report the results.



Credits
1.5 ECTS credits

Certificate of Attendance

Course fee
EUR 795: Course + course materials + housing

EUR 595: Course + course materials

Course leader
Rens van de Schoot

Scholarships
Utrecht Summer School doesn't offer scholarships for this course.

Utrecht University
Address: PO BOX 80148
Postal code: 3508 TC
City: Utrecht
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl
E-mail: summerschool@uu.nl
Phone: 0031302534400