Structural Equation Models Part 2

This chapter outlines a framework for structural equation modeling, emphasizing five guiding steps: model specification, identification, estimation, testing, and modification. We advocate theory-driven model development, the two-step approach of establishing measurement model fit before testing structural relations, and cross-validation to assess the stability of parameter estimates. Transparency and replicability are stressed through reporting software, data, and path diagrams. Although SEM is flexible and widely used, it is a mathematical tool often applied to nonexperimental data, placing responsibility on researchers to meet assumptions and ensure theoretical plausibility. Ultimately, theory must guide SEM, for models are only as sound as the ideas behind them.