Structural equation modeling with lavaan

Users from all professional groups who have basic knowledge in statistics and have used R before. (For introductory R courses please revisit the course list.)

• CHF 600 for members of UZH/ETH and associated institutes
• CHF 800 for members of other universities, federal and cantonal research facilities and agencies, non-profit organisations etc.
• CHF 1,200 for companies, banks, insurance companies etc.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a vast field and widely used by many applied researchers in the social and behavioral sciences. SEM is a general framework to empirically test complex theories, often depicted by path diagrams. It naturally allows for measurement error by introducing latent variables, and it extends the regression framework by allowing for reciprocal and indirect effects. In recent years, the classical SEM framework has been extended to handle categorical outcomes, missing data, and multilevel data. This 2-day workshop will provide both a refresher of SEM concepts and practices, and a tutorial on how to use the open-source R package lavaan. After a brief general introduction to SEM, several specific topics will be discussed: mean structures and multiple groups, measurement invariance, dealing with missing data and non-normal data, CFA with binary and ordinal data, the connection with item response theory (IRT), and the analysis of longitudinal data. The workshop will be based on lecture-style presentations interchanged with practical sessions.

For all Zurich R Courses participants should bring their own laptops to the course and will be informed by email in advance which packages they need to install.