Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Statistical Power Of Alternative Structural Models For Comparative Effectiveness Research: Advantages Of Modeling Unreliability, Emil N. Coman, Eugen Iordache, Lisa Dierker, Judith Fifield, Jean J. Schensul, Suzanne Suggs, Russell Barbour

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The advantages of modeling the unreliability of outcomes when evaluating the comparative effectiveness of health interventions is illustrated. Adding an action-research intervention component to a regular summer job program for youth was expected to help in preventing risk behaviors. A series of simple two-group alternative structural equation models are compared to test the effect of the intervention on one key attitudinal outcome in terms of model fit and statistical power with Monte Carlo simulations. Some models presuming parameters equal across the intervention and comparison groups were under- powered to detect the intervention effect, yet modeling the unreliability of the outcome …