title: An investigation of the accuracy of standardized path coefficients.
abstract: Given the popular and ever-increasing use of path analytic research paradigms in the social sciences, it is desirable to conduct an investigation into the accuracy of the standardized path coefficients that are often the end-product of these paradigms. In pursuit of this goal, population parameters were preset concerning the correlations between all of the variables and their reliability coefficients. Based on these parameters, thousands of experiments were generated with varying numbers of cases (n). For each experiment, at each level of n, standard path analyses were conducted, and standardized path coefficients were obtained. These standardized path coefficients were then compared against the population path coefficients on which the simulations were based to determine their accuracy. The findings indicate mixed evidence for the accuracy of path analysis research paradigms.
authors.affiliation: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trafimow
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.forename: Justin A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: MacDonald
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012107:Research Design