Our ninth annual SEM The Musical was held on April 30, 2015. We performed some new songs this year, as shown below. We also performed songs from previous SEM Musicals (links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
SEM Musical NINE!
Lyrics by Alan Reifman (retread from previous years)
(May be sung to the tune of “Let’s Get it Started,” Will Adams et al. for the Black Eyed Peas)
(Softly) The models keep runnin-runnin, and runnin-runnin, and runnin-runnin, and runnin-runnin, and runnin-runnin, and runnin-runnin, and runnin-runnin, and runnin-runnin, and...
We’re back again, to have some fun,
We’re gonna bust some rhyme, have a good time,
We’re gonna sing some songs, about SEM technique,
Access your inner geek, let your voices speak,
SEM is different, your measurement model’s explicit,
The whole model, gets tested for fit,
Is it identified? We know how hard you’ve tried,
Knowns and unknowns, side by side,
It takes you on a ride, finally you’re satisfied,
Your output’s now just fine, you’ve arrived, you can take pride…
NFI, TLI, CFI,
Calculate estimates, let it run, have some fun, yeah…
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
Yeah,
Build your constructs, get this straight,
Make sure the indicators, correlate,
Draw your pathways, residuals too,
Don’t leave out, the fixed 1 value,
Take your time, think it through,
Don’t worry if you’re new, we’ll walk with you,
Step by step, right up the pyramid,
For SEM, we’re really groovin,’
Hope you get an acceptable solution,
Submit your model and get it movin,’
NFI, TLI, CFI,
Calculate estimates, let it run, have some fun, yeah…
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
SEM Musical (NINE!), SEM Musical (HERE!),
Yeah…
Let's Run the S-E-M
Lyrics by Tobi Ruwase
(May be sung to the tune of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," George & Ira Gershwin)
We have finally, come to the end,
Of Dr. Alan Reifman’s class,
QM 1 to 4 have taken two years,
From correlation to regression,
Goodness knows, what the end will be,
As we prep, for our exams,
It’s time for us, to go down memory lane... (slight pause)
Some things, that we’ve learnt:
We need constructs and we need items,
We need items, for each of our constructs,
Constructs and items, items and constructs,
Let’s run the SEM,
Open the data, run your bivariates,
Check for loadings, higher than the cut-off,
Correlations! Loadings! Inform your decisions,
Let’s run the SEM,
But oh! If we run the SEM (slow),
There may be a glitch,
And oh! If we get a glitch,
Then AMOS would not run,
So, we’ve got correlations, we proceed to AMOS,
Select the data file, from SPSS,
Click on OK, now we’ve got our data,
Now we run SEM,
Oh! Let’s run the SEM,
We call it, the BAM TOOL!!!
In the AMOS toolbar,
It draws your constructs, and then your items,
Constructs and items, items and constructs,
Let’s run the SEM,
Using your cursor, for two types of arrows,
Uni-directed or two-headed arrows,
Construct to items, Oh, structural paths,
Let’s run the SEM,
But oh! If we run the SEM,
There may be a glitch,
And oh! If we get a glitch,
Then AMOS would not run,
So label your constructs, don’t forget items,
Time to run the AMOS, don’t forget properties,
Means and intercepts, for the missing data,
Now we run SEM,
Oh! Lets’ run the SEM,
We need construct and we need items,
We need items, for each of our constructs,
Constructs and items, items and constructs,
Let’s run the SEM,
Open the data, run your bivariates,
Check for loadings, higher than the cut-off,
Correlations! Loadings! Inform your decisions,
Let’s run the SEM,
But oh! If we run the SEM,
There may be a glitch,
And oh! If we get a glitch,
Then AMOS would not run,
So, we’ve got correlations, we proceed to AMOS,
Click on OK, now we’ve got our data,
Now we run SEM,
Oh! Let’s run the SEM,
Let’s run the SEMMMMMMMMMMMM........
The AMOS Structural Equation Modeling program has a lot of graphical features, which the beginning SEM student must adjust to. Let's do an earlier song ("Once You Work in AMOS") on the topic before our new one.
Click, Hold, and Drag
Lyrics by Alan Reifman, inspired by Tobi Ruwase
(May be sung to the tune of "Jump, Jive, and Wail," Louis Prima, popularized in recent decades by the Brian Setzer Orchestra)
Video of this song being performed.
Tobi, Tobi, drew a big model, on her pad,
Tobi, Tobi, drew a big model, on her pad,
When you learn AMOS,
You gotta make the paths, zig and zag,
Oh, you gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag away...
(Saxophone solo)
All these shapes, with a label, she's got to tag,
All these shapes, with a label, she's got to tag,
With the variable names,
From SPSS, in the bag,
Oh, you gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag away...
(Guitar solo)
A model is a model, and an AMOS error, is a nag,
A model is a model, and an AMOS error, is a nag,
You gotta draw things right,
So other statisticians, will not rag,
Let's make sure, her drawing work, doesn't lag,
Let's make sure, her drawing work, doesn't lag,
So that she can get,
Her model to run, without a snag,
Oh, you gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag away...
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag away...
Oh, you gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag,
You gotta click and hold, then you drag away...
You gotta click and hold...
You gotta click and hold...
You gotta click and hold...
(Guitar flourish)
Common Model Mistakes
Lyrics by Alan Reifman
(May be sung to the tune of "My Favorite Mistake," Crow/Trott)
Performance videos of this song from SEM The Musical 9 and 10.
Omitting, residual bubbles,
Will surely, get you in trouble,
When AMOS gives your model, a run,
Deleting a, fixed-one loading,
Should trigger a sense, of foreboding,
The error messages, are no fun,
You should know, as you go,
When you're, just beginning,
These are some of, the more subtle errors,
You should know, as you go,
These are, common mistakes,
(Instrumental)
Misnaming, your indicators,
Will bring an, emotional nadir,
You'll have to find out, just where you failed,
Grouping scales, with low correlation,
Your constructs, will bring frustration,
Check Pearson r's, and then you'll sail,
You should know, as you go,
When you're, just beginning,
These are some of, the more subtle errors,
You should know, as you go,
These are common mistakes,
These are common mistakes,
(Bridge)
Well, SEM is, quite technical,
Little things, will send a ripple,
If you get, an error message,
Look at the, above suggestions,
They should help you, find your way,
(Instrumental)
Keep in mind, you will find,
These aren't, the only ones,
That you'll encounter,
Other things, can go wrong,
Keep your concentration, high,
These mistakes, can make you cry,
These are common mistakes,
These are common mistakes,
These are common mistakes...
Fit It
Lyrics by Brandon Logan
(May be sung to the tune of "Whip It," G. Casale/M. Mothersbaugh for Devo)
Performance video.
Check that fit,
Really question it,
Pick out a stat,
Take a look at that,
When a matrix, comes along,
You must fit it,
To prove that, the model’s strong,
You must fit it,
When something’s going wrong,
You must fit it,
Now fit it,
N-F-I,
Get it high,
Com-par...
...i-tive or,
Absolute,
Try to increase it,
The C-F-I,
Go fit it,
Fit it good,
Minimum is not achieved,
You won’t fit it,
Constraints to be released,
So you can fit it,
This must be policed,
For you can fit it,
I say fit it,
Fit it good,
I say fit it,
Fit it good,
(Interlude)
Check that fit,
Really question it,
Pick out a stat,
Take a look at that,
When a matrix comes along,
You must fit it,
To prove that, the model’s strong,
You must fit it,
When something’s going wrong,
You must fit it,
Now fit it,
N-F-I,
Get it high,
Com-par...
...i-tive or,
Absolute,
Try to increase it,
The C-F-I...
Now fit it,
N-F-I,
Get it high,
Com-par...
...i-tive or,
Absolute,
Try to increase it,
The C-F-I
Go fit it,
Oh, fit it good!
We'll now perform some "classics" and, finally, our traditional closing number: Parsi-Mony
