Longitudinal research with latent variables

The book combines longitudinal research and latent variable research, i.e. it explains how longitudinal studies with objectives formulated in terms of latent variables should be performed. The emphasis is on exposing how the methods are applied. Because currently longitudinal research with latent variables follows different approaches with different histories, different types of research questions, and different computer programs to perform the analysis, the book is divided in nine chapters. Starting from (a) some background information about the specific approach (short history and main publications), the chapter (b) describes the type of research questions the approach is able to answer, (c) gives the statistical and mathematical explanation of the model(s) used in the data analysis, (d) discusses the input and output of the program(s) used, and (e) provides one or more examples with typical data sets enabling the readers to apply the programs themselves