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In the unlikely event that Statistical Horizons LLC must cancel a seminar, we will do our best to inform you as soon as possible of the cancellation. You would then have the option of receiving a full refund of the seminar fee or a credit towards another seminar. In no event shall Statistical Horizons LLC be liable for any incidental or consequential damages that you may incur because of the cancellation.

A 4-Day Livestream Seminar Taught by Wes Bonifay, Ph.D.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a framework for fitting many types of statistical models, including simple regression models, multivariate path models, confirmatory factor models, latent variable path models, and latent growth models. Since its inception, the standard SEM specification has been a linear model with normally distributed outcomes, often considered “continuous.” That’s been a considerable limitation because many outcome variables are binary or ordinal, or considered “categorical,” in almost every discipline. Unfortunately, categorical models differ in several ways from standard SEM, and there are few didactic articles on how to properly use and interpret categorical SEM.

This seminar will cover a wide range of topics within the categorical SEM framework. On Day 1, we will explore the foundational components of this framework, from logistic and probit regression models to the basic tenets of SEM. Day 2 will focus on measurement components through a detailed examination of confirmatory factor analysis of binary and ordinal indicators, including model specification, estimation methods, and software implementation.

Day 3 will highlight the structural components (e.g., regressions among variables), with an overview of path analysis and SEM with categorical data, accompanied by practical implementations. Lastly, Day 4 will involve advanced topics such as missing data handling, multigroup CFA/measurement invariance testing, and the integration of SEM with other frameworks (e.g., item response theory).

While many SEM software programs are still limited to linear/normal models, the last decade has seen the emergence of several SEM programs and packages that do an excellent job of estimating categorical models. Accordingly, this seminar will present a comprehensive treatment of SEM for binary and ordinal outcomes, using two of the best software packages for the task: Mplus and lavaan (a package for R).