EXERCISE 19.1: TUTORIAL IN STRUCTURAL EQUATIONS MODELING OBJECTIVE: To provide a brief introduction to common SEM programs.

LISREL is one of the most popular SEM programs for conducting CFA. The subsequent links provide access to free demonstration versions of this software program for LISREL; download the free student version and the “Getting started with the Student Edition of LISREL” Word file at http://www.ssicentral.com/

lisrel/downloads.html.

There is a “Getting started” document available at http://www.ssicentral.com/
lisrel/techdocs/GSWLISREL.pdf. Open that up and refer to “Section 3: Fitting a Measurement model to SPSS data.” This provides a step-by-step example of how to conduct a CFA in LISREL. Note that the depress.sav and depress0.spl files needed to conduct the step-by-step CFA example using LISREL should be in the directory “c:/Lisrel9 Student Examples/Tutorial” on your computer’s hard drive as part of the installation of the student version.
EXERCISE 19.2: REVIEW OF CFA LITERATURE OBJECTIVE: To see how CFAs are reported in the psychological literature.
Just as in any other statistical technique, there is a wide variety in terms of the practice and reporting of CFA. Find two studies that use CFA techniques to analyze the structure of a psychological measurement. Study how the CFAs are reported and note differences between the two different studies.