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ERIC Number: EJ1136903
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Aug
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0049-1241
EISSN: N/A
The Performance of RMSEA in Models with Small Degrees of Freedom
Kenny, David A.; Kaniskan, Burcu; McCoach, D. Betsy
Sociological Methods & Research, v44 n3 p486-507 Aug 2015
Given that the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) is currently one of the most popular measures of goodness-of-model fit within structural equation modeling (SEM), it is important to know how well the RMSEA performs in models with small degrees of freedom ("df"). Unfortunately, most previous work on the RMSEA and its confidence interval has focused on models with a large "df." Building on the work of Chen et al. to examine the impact of small "df" on the RMSEA, we conducted a theoretical analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation using correctly specified models with varying "df" and sample size. The results of our investigation indicate that when the cutoff values are used to assess the fit of the properly specified models with small "df" and small sample size, the RMSEA too often falsely indicates a poor fitting model. We recommend not computing the RMSEA for small "df" models, especially those with small sample sizes, but rather estimating parameters that were not originally specified in the model.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A