Longitudinal Structural Equation Modeling (Methodology in the Social Sciences) Annotated Edition

This is an amazing book! It's the kind of book you read and then wonder, "Why aren't all statistical books written like this?". What makes it so incredible is the way that the author describes his thought process, experience, and approach to issues. It feels like you're being mentored rather than lectured.If Amazon let you add a sixth star for just a couple of books over your purchasing history, this one would get my extra star.As one example of what I mean, he spends five pages discussing the design of the timing of measurements that you will take, and the effects that this timing can have. Many measurements will be taken over a time window, and the location and duration of that window can have different effects. (Effects that SEM is well able to deal with, if you have a good design and a model which takes it into account.) It's really encouraging to read someone who says, "I've been guilty of this thinking in my own past work. ... In my older datasets, I won't know whether they did ... Had I known then what I know now, I would have ... The more I work with researchers and study development chafes, the more I realize ..." As I said, more like a mentor than a lecturer.

Prof. Little is among the leading statisticians, especially, in the art of structural equation modeling. In his new book: "Longitudinal Structural Equation Modeling" he adds several aspects. First, he shares his own experience with the readers such that the text becomes very practical and many operational advices are given which save the muddling through time. He is very innovative in introducing several measurement instruments usually not common among lay users of statistics. This introduction stimulates experimentation with alternative models and more complex structures. Overall these advantages, Prof. Little use friendly language and a generous sense of humor, some is ready for quoting, though reading the book require a great deal of efforts to clearly understand the meaning of all terms, figures, and text. In my work as a statistical consultant, I find the book extremely helpful and I cite it repeatedly. Dr. Gabriel Liberman – Data-Graph Statistical Consulting at: [...].

This is the best and most useful longitudinal latent variable modeling text that I have read. This book has been essential to me in the publication of three papers at this point. In addition, I was able to use sections of the text, especially the chapter on model fit, to address reviewers' suggestions. I also used this text as the primary text in a graduate course on longitudinal SEM. Students found the book extremely helpful with their dissertation research. Finally, Professor Little's writing style is wonderful--he has the unique talent to make complex statistical issues understandable as well as fun to read about!

Not a bad book. The reviews so far seem to be unusually fluffy, definitely influenced me to buy the book to see what I can learn from it - substantively or how to improve my teaching (I also teach a course on SEM). Sure, there are many worse written statistics books, but it is not that great. A solid 3 stars, entirely average.

As far as books on statistical concepts go, this is one of the best. This topic could be taught drly but Dr. Little injects his teaching with real world examples and humor that make it an interesting read. I tried other books to teach me SEM before I found this one and this one is the one that worked for me.

Clearly written, user friendly, and direct. This is a fun read even if you aren't super interested in the subject topic. Plus, it's very informative. As a statistician and a scientist, I would recommend this for any serious researcher's collection.

Easy read and valuable

Great book! Really helped me with my dissertation analyses, doing crosslag longitudinal panel analyses as well as longitudinal mediation analyses.

Incredibly approachable and easy to understand, makes a highly sophisticated research method seem comparatively easy.

Eines der wenigen Bücher zu dem Thema, dass es schafft alle paar Seiten ein Lächeln auf mein Gesicht zu zaubern =)