Since the development of structural equation models in the early 1970s, there has been a steady growth in their use in educational, social, and behavioral research. In the early period, two or three textbooks for researchers with a relatively advanced statistical knowledge were available, but it was not until the early 1980s that a basic introductory textbook (Saris & Stronkhorst 1983) became available. That volume, however, did not tackle the full range of issues in the application of structural modeling methods to the types of theories that most researchers work with in applied settings. Thus, the Saris and Stronkhorst text is best viewed only as a general introduction to the theory and methodology. There are also several introductory articles and short monographs that outline the basic methodology of structural modeling, but again they rarely describe in detail the process of applying the methodology to an applied research setting.

This volume attempts to fill that gap by providing several extended examples of the application of structural modeling to applied problems and by contrasting its strengths and weaknesses with the more naive methods that are still the mainstay of applied research in these disciplines. These examples provide the reader with the rationale for, and a view of, the operational decisions that have to be made as the researcher works through an applied problem. In most publications, information is hidden from the view of the reader, since the focus is, rightly, on substantive issues rather than methodological issues.

This volume also reports a set of evaluations of the robustness of the method written from the point of view of the applied researcher rather than from the view of the statistician.