The twelfth annual SEM The Musical will be held on Thursday, May 3, during our class. The above logo was contributed by one of our students, Casey A. Smith. We'll sing new songs (to be listed below as they're written) and some favorites from the previous 11 musicals (links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).
Welcome to the SEM Parade
Lyrics by Jonathan Villarreal
(May be sung to the tune of “Welcome to the Black Parade”,Bryar, Iero, Way, Way, & Toro, for My Chemical Romance)
When we were, a new class,
Our professor, took us through the basics,
To see a working model,
He said, class, when you’re finished,
Would you make, a structural equation model,
To find RMSEA,
He said, will you, connect them,
The pathways, and get degrees of freedom,
And compare your delta chi-squares?
Because one day, you’ll leave here,
As scholars, to do your own research,
And join the SEM Parade,
When we were, a new class,
Our professor, took us through the basics,
To see a working model,
He said, class, when you’re finished,
Would you make, a structural equation model,
To find RMSEA,
(Drum-led speed-up)
Sometimes we get the feeling,
These are good factor loadings,
And other times, it feels like it’s all wrong,
When through it all,
The models we draw,
In Onyx and AMOS,
And when it’s done, we want you all to know,
We’ll run Mplus, we’ll run Mplus,
And though this class is done, believe us,
We’ll continue to run Mplus,
We’ll run Mplus,
And three people cannot run it,
Remote desktop will not allow it,
An error that sends you reeling,
Iterations exceeded,
This model will not run at all,
So do the math,
And change a path,
Let’s make our syntax clear,
Triumphant in the end,
We heed the call,
To run Mplus,
We’ll run Mplus,
And though this class is done, believe us,
We’ll continue to run Mplus,
We’ll run Mplus,
And through maximum likelihood estimation,
We’ll accept the adjusted,
Model, and write up our results (oh, oh, oh)
Make sure it’s in STDYX (oh, oh, oh)
Take a look at analyses,
Cause it does not fit at all,
The CFI, Is below point 90,
Didn’t calculate, Degrees of freedom,
It’s too low, The Tucker-Lewis,
We compared it all,
We want to cite our source,
For best fit,
David Kenny,
Don’t forget,
To discuss correlations,
“Causal” paths,
For all our factors,
List them all,
Or at least if significant,
We’re just a class,
We’re not statisticians,
Just a class, who had to run these tests,
We’re just a class,
We’re not Todd Little,
WE – DID – IT,
We’ll run Mplus,
We’ll run Mplus,
And though this class is done, believe us,
We’ll continue to run Mplus,
We’ll run Mplus,
And through maximum likelihood estimation,
We’ll accept the adjusted model,
The CFI,
Is below point 90,
Didn’t calculate,
Degrees of freedom,
It’s too low,
The Tucker-Lewis,
We compared it all,
We want to cite our source,
The CFI (we’ll run Mplus),
Is below point 90 (we’ll run Mplus),
Didn’t calculate (we’ll run Mplus),
Degrees of freedom,
It’s too low,
The Tucker-Lewis,
We compared it all,
We want to cite our source (we’ll run Mplus)
The CFI
Lyrics by Alan Reifman
May be sung to the tune of “English Eyes” (Kimball/Paich/J. Porcaro /S. Porcaro for Toto)
What you’ve run, you want to see how well it fits,
Do the known, and the implied r’s, match bit-by-bit?
The NFI, is one way, but it rises just by adding paths,
Can parsimony, be embedded, right there in the maths?
It takes account, com-plex-i-ty, CFI,
You want to get, values above point-9-5,
(Instrumentals)
It compares, your model to the null version, which has no links,
To ensure, your model fits better, than one you know that stinks,
In the formula, the df track, how many paths you use,
In this way, the more you saturate, the more you lose,
It takes account, com-plex-i-ty, CFI,
You want to get, values above point-9-5,
CFI!
CFI!
(Keyboard/guitar back-and-forth)
[Slow and quiet:
How's your fit?
What indices should you be using now?]
Of sample-size bias, the CFI is relatively free,
As a fit index, it enjoys great popularity,
It’s in programs, such as AMOS, Onyx, and Mplus,
So you can find it, without going through, any fuss,
It takes account, com-plex-i-ty, CFI,
You want to get, values above point-9-5,
It takes account, com-plex-i-ty, CFI,
You want to get, values above point-9-5,
CFI!
CFI!
(More instrumentals)
CFI!
(Guitar solo)
CFI!
CFI!
Dr. Cong (pronounced “Tsong” like tsunami)
Lyrics by Alan Reifman
May be sung to the tune of “Miss Sun” (David Paich, popularized by Boz Scaggs)
Been teaching stats, a long time,
Since you, came from U-S-C,
You’ve taught, lots of students,
In QM 1, and 2, and 3,
Dr. Cong, what can we say?
We wish you, all the best, out at U-T-A,
We hope it isn’t long,
Before our paths, will cross again, in some way,
You’ve served, on our committees,
Methods quals, won’t be the same,
Who’s going to, ask the students,
With a sample, what’s your aim?
Dr. Cong, what can we say?
We wish you, all the best, out at U-T-A,
We hope it isn’t long,
Before our paths, will cross again, in some way (Cross again in some way)
(Guitar solo)
Dr. Cong, what can we say?
You’ve been a, friend of ours, for 10 years, every day,
We hope it isn’t long,
Before our paths, will cross again, in some way,
...In some way...
(Brief interlude)
Dr. Cong, what can we say?
We wish you, all the best, out at U-T-A,
We hope it isn’t long,
Before our paths, will cross again, in some way...
(Instrumentals)
