A Guide to the PROC CALIS Documentation

The CALIS procedure uses a variety of modeling languages to fit structural equation models. This chapter provides documentation for all of them. Additionally, some sections provide introductions to the model specification, the theory behind the software, and other technical details. While some introductory material and examples are provided, this chapter is not a textbook for structural equation modeling and related topics. For didactic treatment of structural equation models with latent variables, see Bollen (1989b) and Loehlin (2004).

Reading this chapter sequentially is not a good strategy for learning about PROC CALIS. This section provides a guide or "road map" to the rest of the PROC CALIS chapter, starting with the basics and continuing through more advanced topics. Many sections assume that you already have a basic understanding of structural equation modeling.

The following table shows three different skill levels of using the CALIS procedure (basic, intermediate, and advanced) and their milestones.

In the next three sections, each skill level is discussed, followed by an introductory section of the reference topics that are not covered in any of the skill levels.