Mplus User's Meeting, October 27, 2010, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

On October the 27th (9.00 a.m.- 4.30 p.m.) the first meeting of the 'Mplus user's group: Exploring the boundaries of Mplus' will take place at Utrecht University.

The aim of the Mplus user group is to bring together users of Mplus and to share information, learn about new developments and discuss solutions for typical Mplus problems. We will organize such meetings twice a year for all interested researchers (applied researchers, statisticians & methodologists).

Every user-meeting will start with a key-note presentation in combination with a practical. In the afternoon, two or three 'thirty-minute' presentations will discuss developments in Mplus. The remainder of the day is scheduled for discussing Mplus problems and solutions.

Every researcher can shortly present a problem, error message or other modeling issues with the audience, and receive instant feedback.

Registration is possible by sending an email to Rens van de Schoot: a.g.j.vandeschoot@uu.nl.

In order to cover the organizational costs, participation costs are 50

Preliminary program 27th October:

• 09:00-10:30 Key-note: Prof. dr. Joop Hox

Joop Hox will talk about Mplus version 6 which allows for Bayesian data analysis. In particular, he will discuss the differences between handling missing data using Full Information Maximum Likelihood (the default option of Mplus) and multiple imputation of plausible values using Bayesian estimation (ESTIMATOR = BAYES;). Moreover, Bayesian data analysis in general will be discussed including how to chose priors (MODEL PRIORS;), posterior results (POINT = MEDIAN/MEAN/MODE;) and when to use the option Bayesian in the fist place. During the computer practical we will practice Bayesian imputation and estimation.

• 10.45 - 12.00 Short presentations (three minutes)

• 12:00 - 13:30 Lunch (not included)

• 13:30 - 15:00 Thirty-minute presentations:
  • ESEM: apart from confirmatory analyses, Mplus features the possibility to do Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling. The possibilities and benefits are illustrated with factor analysis models.
  • How to conduct mediation analyses in Mplus using the MODEL INDIRECT command
  • How to deal with inequality constraints between regression coefficients in Mplus (MODEL CONSTRAINT) using the parametric bootstrap procedure (MONTECARLO).

• 15:00 - end Short presentations (three minutes)

You can register for such a presentation by sending us an e-mail. Please let us know the topic of your 'problem' so we can plan the meeting according to different topics.

More information can be found at www.tiny.cc/mplus. Please feel free to forward this message to anyone that might be interested. We hope to see you on October 27th.

The organizing committee,

Rens van de Schoot: a.g.j.vandeschoot@uu.nl; 030-253 4594

Maartje van Stralen: mm.vanstralen@vumc.nl; 020-4449684

Peter Lugtig: p.lugtig@uu.nl; 020-4449684

Joop Hox: j.hox@uu.nl; 020-4449684