Dear Mike and Colleagues,
My understanding is that moderator analysis at the 2nd stage of metaSEM approach using metaSEM::wls()
involves multi-group analysis.
Thus, as a user I have to subset
my data by categories of my moderator, and fit the same model syntax to each subset as shown below.
But at the end, how can I conclude whether I have a significant moderator or not? For example, should/can I do: anova(wls1, wls2)
and if one model is significantly different from another conclude that the moderator is significant? (I appreciate a demonstration.)
library(metaSEM) ## Sample sizes n1 <- 100 n2 <- 200 ## Variable labels vars <- c("y", "x1", "x2") ## Group 1 data and model R1 <- matrix(c(1.00, 0.22, 0.24, 0.22, 1.00, 0.30, 0.24, 0.30, 1.00), ncol=3, nrow=3, dimnames=list(vars, vars)) acov1 <- asyCov(R1, n1) model1 <- "y ~ b1a*x1 + b2a*x2 ## Variances of x1 and x2 are 1 x1 ~~ 1*x1 x2 ~~ 1*x2 ## x1 and x2 are correlated x1 ~~ ra*x2" RAM1 <- lavaan2RAM(model1, obs.variables=vars) wls1 <- wls(model="Group1", Cov=R1, aCov=acov1, n=n1, RAM=RAM1) ## Group 2 data and model R2 <- matrix(c(1.00, 0.33, 0.41, 0.33, 1.00, 0.35, 0.41, 0.35, 1.00), ncol=3, nrow=3, dimnames=list(vars, vars)) acov2 <- asyCov(R2, n2) model2 <- "y ~ b1b*x1 + b2b*x2 ## Variances of x1 and x2 are 1 x1 ~~ 1*x1 x2 ~~ 1*x2 ## x1 and x2 are correlated x1 ~~ rb*x2" RAM2 <- lavaan2RAM(model2, obs.variables=vars) wls2 <- wls(model="Group2", Cov=R2, aCov=acov2, n=n2, RAM=RAM2)
wls() was not decided for moderator analysis. osmasem() is a better option.
Dear Mike,
Sure, but I asked this to clarify your comment HERE. In that comment, what is the purpose behind creating a combined model like:
mxModel(model="combined", wls1, wls2, mxFitFunctionMultigroup(c("Group1", "Group2")))
? What do the statistics of this combined model tell us about the moderatory role of"Group"
?In fact, as I ask in this thread, if the path models are exactly the same across two subsets of data, and we fit
wls(...,run=F)
for each model, then is it possible to compare the two models usingmxModel(..., mxFitFunctionMultigroup(...))
and thenmxRun()
? I really appreciate a demonstration.The purpose is to conduct a subgroup analysis in meta-analysis, which is equivalent to a multiple-group analysis in SEM.
The models with equality constraints and without equality constraints are nested. Thus, a chi-square difference statistic can be used to compare them.
There are plenty of resources for subgroup analysis in meta-analysis and multiple-group SEM. Here are some materials for a three-day workshop in MASEM. https://github.com/mikewlcheung/masemWorkshop2023
Dear Mike,
Is it possible to conduct pairwise comparisons between the elements of A.matrix and S.matrix from the two groups in the object
output
below?Yes, but it is not automatic.
You may test the constraints one by one, e.g., b1a=b1b, b2a=b2b. Please note that it does not adjust the issue of multiple comparisons.
Thank you, Mike. Can you possibly demonstrate testing only one such constraint to help figure out the process?
Here is an example.
Truly appreciated, Mike. Just curious, given that estimates from each group use independent pieces of data, can't we compute the standard error of their coefficients' differences e.g., SE(b1a - b1b = 0) by doing
SE_dif = SQRT(SE_b1a^2 + SE_b1b^2)
assuming near-normally distributed sampling distribution for b1a - b1b?If yes, then H0: b1a - b1b = 0, may be tested with standard wald-type, Z-test.
Yes, you can choose between the likelihood ratio and Wald tests.
Final confirmation, can Wald tests be applied both to the elements of A.matrix and S.matrix from the two groups?
Also, are there any references (papers, book chapters etc.) discussing the use of Wald tests in the manner that I suggested in my previous post for comparing across the estimates from independent groups?
Wald test can be applied to both A and S matrices.
You may refer to the literature of multiple group SEM.
Dear Mike,
Is there any way to convert a
wls()
object withrun=TRUE
orrun=FALSE
to a corresponding lavaan object?I am afraid not because this functionality is not available in lavaan.