Dr. Edgar Merkle from the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri will lead a Joint Quantitative Brownbag Session on Zoom. The event will be a joint event with University of Maryland, College Park; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt University; University of South Carolina; and University of Virginia. For more information on the session, contact Jolynn Pek at pek.5@osu.edu.
Title: Some progress and problems in Bayesian SEM
Abstract: The talk will involve a combination of research and software on Bayesian structural equation models, with some material being relevant to general Bayesian modeling in psychology. I will say some things about how the blavaan package was started and where it is going in the future. Then I will say some things about research that has stemmed from development of blavaan, including some problems that are not fully solved. Topics include speed/efficiency of model estimation, methods for computing Bayesian information criteria, and methods for specifying proper prior distributions. Finally, I will discuss the collaborative work that can arise from open source software.
Dr. Ed Merkle's research involves a mix of psychometric modeling and the experimentation/modeling that arises from cognitive science and mathematical psychology. His specific research includes Bayesian latent variable models, forecasting and subjective probability, psychometric measurement, and statistical modeling.