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Specify starting values for all param... |
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Hong Ling posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - 1:44 pm
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Dear Dr. Muthen, Thank you for the nice technical manual (http://www.statmodel.com/download/Starts.pdf) that clarifies how the permutation of starting values is provided by the software. I wonder whether Mplus supports the specification of the starting values for all estimated parameters? I plan to examine the effects of different sets of starting values on the estimation accuracy, which requires to manipulate the starting values of all parameters to specific values, e.g., a set of extreme values for the parameters to be estimated, or a random sampled from a specific parameter space. If so, where can I find reference on how to achieve that? The closest syntax identified was the "STARTING =" under the MONTECARLO command. Yet it is insufficient information to achieve the goal. If not, the follow-up question is that does the permutation of the starting values supplied by Mplus use the same seed for each estimation? In other word, if I replicate one estimation multiple times without specifying any seed for starting value, will the estimation process and results be exactly the same? Best regards, |
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Yes, you can specify starting values for each parameter to be estimated. Note that each example in the User's Guide has a corresponding Monte Carlo version on our website - this shows how you give starting values. |
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Hong Ling posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - 8:17 pm
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Thank you very much for your speedy response! The information is very helpful! PS: For others' reference, below is the link I found on how to specify starting values in LCA (e.g., Example 7.5): https://www.statmodel.com/HTML_UG/chapter7V8.htm |
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Hong Ling posted on Monday, October 09, 2017 - 1:05 pm
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Dear Dr. Muthen, May I ask a follow-up question about how to verify whether the starting values have been implemented as specified in Mplus? I have tried to output TECH 8, but it does not include such details. I get identical results regardless of very different starting values, over dozens of replication. So I want to double check the key step. Thanks! |
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TECH1 shows the starting values used. |
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Hong Ling posted on Monday, October 09, 2017 - 7:47 pm
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Thank you very much! The detailed information from TECH1 is very helpful to identify potential problems. |
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