Author Description

This book introduces LISREL 8--all that is required is to name all observed latent (if any) variables and to formulate the model to be estimated. The model can be specified either as paths or as relationships (equations) in the input file or as a path diagram at run time. It is not necessary to be familiar with the LISREL model or any of its submodels, nor are any greek or matrix notations required. There are no complicated options to learn and anyone who can formulate the model as a path diagram can use the SIMPLIS command language immediately. This book is written for students and researchers with limited mathematical and statistical training who need to use structural equation models to analyze their data and learn the LISREL command language. It is not a textbook on factor analysis, structural equations or latent variable models, although there are many examples of such in the book. Rather, it is assumed that the reader is already familiar with the basic ideas and principles of these types of analyses and techniques. The main objective is to demonstrate how structural equation modeling can be easily learned without a great deal of the technical jargon. The SIMPLIS language makes it much easier to specify models and to carry out the analysis. The substantive specification and interpretation remain the same as with the LISREL command language. The SIMPLIS language shifts the focus away from the technical question "how to do it" so that researchers can concentrate on the more substantively interesting question "what does it all mean?"