Conventional wisdom on measurement: A structural equation perspective.

1991/09/01 by Kenneth Bollen, Kenneth A. Bollen, Richard Lennox +1 · 3,450 citations
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Advanced Statistical Modeling Techniques #Artificial intelligence #Cognitive psychology #Computer science #Econometrics #Mathematics #Perspective (graphical) #Psychology #Psychometric Methodologies and Testing #Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research #Social psychology #Statistics #Structural equation modeling

paper · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.110.2.305

published in Psychological Bulletin 110(2), 305-314 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 1991/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

The applicability of 5 conventional guidelines for construct measurement is critically examined: (a) Construct indicators should be internally consistent for valid measures, (b) there are optimal magnitudes of correlations between items, (c) the validity of measures depends on the adequacy with which a specified domain is sampled, (d) within-construct correlations must be greater than between-construct correlations, and (e) linear composites of indicators can replace latent variables. A structural equation perspective is used, showing that without an explicit measurement model relating indicators to latent variables and measurement errors, none of these conventional beliefs hold without qualifications. Moreover, a causal indicator model is presented that sometimes better corresponds to the relation of indicators to a construct than does the classical test theory effect indicator model.

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