December, 26 — Regular Seminar

Topic: Formative, Reflective, or Neither? Testing Competing Approaches to the Measurement of Group-Level Value Constructs Using WVS Data
Speaker: Boris Sokolov (Leading Research Fellow of the Ronald F. Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, HSE University, Russia)

The Laboratory for Comparative Social Research announces the next regular seminar, which will be held as a zoom session on December, 26 at 02:30 p.m. CET (04:30 p.m. Moscow time, GMT+3). Boris Sokolov (LCSR, HSE University, Russia) will deliver a report "Formative, Reflective, or Neither? Testing Competing Approaches to the Measurement of Group-Level Value Constructs Using WVS Data".

To participate, please, register via the link.

Abstract:

This paper proposes a simple test that allows to determine whether some latent construct of interest is a reflective or a formative one. The key idea is to not evaluate the respective measurement model alone, but to embed it within a broader structural context by formulating a directed acyclic graph that integrates both measurement and structural relationships implied by relevant substantive theories. The plausibility of testable implications of such a graph can often be assessed empirically via simple statistical tests, e.g., using generalized linear structural equation modeling, and the best-fitting model specification can be easily chosen using standard SEM fit indices. I illustrate the proposed methodology by applying it to Welzel's Index of Emancipative Values, using a broader theoretical model linking geo-climatic conditions, economic development, value change, and political regime. 

Everyone interested is invited!

Working language is English.