Lesson plan

Discrepancy function

In structural equation modeling, a discrepancy function is a mathematical function which describes how closely a structural model conforms to observed data; it is a measure of goodness of fit. Larger values of the discrepancy function indicate a poor fit of the model to data. In general, the parameter estimates for a given model are chosen so as to make the discrepancy function for that model as small as possible. Analogous concepts in statistics are known as goodness of fit or statistical distance, and include deviance and divergence.

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Article summary

In structural equation modeling, a discrepancy function is a mathematical function which describes how closely a structural model conforms to observed data; it is a measure of goodness of fit. Larger values of the discrepancy function indicate a poor fit of the model to data. In general, the parameter estimates for a given model are chosen so as to make the discrepancy function for that model as small as possible. Analogous concepts in statistics are known as goodness of fit or statistical distance, and include deviance and divergence.

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Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

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