Using Lisrel to Evaluate Measurement Models and Scale Reliability

The present paper demonstrates how LISREL can be used to examine measurement model assumptions and to assess the reliability of a scale. LISREL was used to investigate (a) the nature of the basic measurement model for a scale, (b) scale invariance across time, and (c) scale invariance across groups. Information obtained in such analyses helps to assess accurately the estimate of the reliability of the scale. As an illustration, responses of 722 elementary school students to the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (Form B) were analyzed. Results indicated that a congeneric measurement model with correlated errors was most appropriate. Internal-consistency estimates were not affected by correlated errors, within each of the two time points (pretest and posttest). However, correlated errors across time produced an overestimate of the stability coefficient. Further, the factor structure of the scale was invariant across three ethnic groups, an invariance that implied similar reliability estimates across groups.