#102 Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling & Causal Inference in Psychometrics, with Ed Merkle

Proudly sponsored by PyMC Labs, the Bayesian Consultancy. Book a call, or get in touch!My Intuitive Bayes Online Courses1:1 Mentorship with meStructural Equation Modeling (SEM) is a key framework in causal inference. As I’m diving deeper and deeper into these topics to teach them and, well, finally understand them, I was delighted to host Ed Merkle on the show.A professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri, Ed discusses his work on Bayesian applications to psychometric models and model estimation, particularly in the context of Bayesian SEM. He explains the importance of BSEM in psychometrics and the challenges encountered in its estimation.Ed also introduces his blavaan package in R, which enhances researchers' capabilities in BSEM and has been instrumental in the dissemination of these methods. Additionally, he explores the role of Bayesian methods in forecasting and crowdsourcing wisdom.When he’s not thinking about stats and psychology, Ed can be found running, playing the piano, or playing 8-bit video games.Our theme music is « Good Bayesian », by Baba Brinkman (feat MC Lars and Mega Ran). Check out his awesome work at https://bababrinkman.com/ !Thank you to my Patrons for making this episode possible!Yusuke Saito, Avi Bryant, Ero Carrera, Giuliano Cruz, Tim Gasser, James Wade, Tradd Salvo, William Benton, James Ahloy, Robin Taylor,, Chad Scherrer, Zwelithini Tunyiswa, Bertrand Wilden, James Thompson, Stephen Oates, Gian Luca Di Tanna, Jack Wells, Matthew Maldonado, Ian Costley, Ally Salim, Larry Gill, Ian Moran, Paul Oreto, Colin Caprani, Colin Carroll, Nathaniel Burbank, Michael Osthege, Rémi Louf, Clive Edelsten, Henri Wallen, Hugo Botha, Vinh Nguyen, Marcin Elantkowski, Adam C. Smith, Will Kurt, Andrew Moskowitz, Hector Munoz, Marco Gorelli, Simon Kessell, Bradley Rode, Patrick Kelley, Rick Anderson, Casper de Bruin, Philippe Labonde, Michael Hankin, Cameron Smith, Tomáš Frýda, Ryan Wesslen, Andreas Netti, Riley King, Yoshiyuki Hamajima, Sven De Maeyer, Michael DeCrescenzo, Fergal M, Mason Yahr, Naoya Kanai, Steven Rowland, Aubrey Clayton, Jeannine Sue, Omri Har Shemesh, Scott Anthony Robson, Robert Yolken, Or Duek, Pavel Dusek, Paul Cox, Andreas Kröpelin, Raphaël R, Nicolas Rode, Gabriel Stechschulte, Arkady, Kurt TeKolste, Gergely Juhasz, Marcus Nölke, Maggi Mackintosh, Grant Pezzolesi, Avram Aelony, Joshua Meehl, Javier Sabio, Kristian Higgins, Alex Jones, Gregorio Aguilar, Matt Rosinski, Bart Trudeau, Luis Fonseca, Dante Gates, Matt Niccolls, Maksim Kuznecov, Michael Thomas, Luke Gorrie, Cory Kiser and Julio.Visit https://www.patreon.com/learnbayesstats to unlock exclusive Bayesian swag ;)Takeaways: - Bayesian SEM is a powerful framework in psychometrics that allows for the estimation of complex models involving multiple variables and causal relationships.-...