Introduction
to Model Building
in Social Science

- a unified approach

By Dr. Alex Liu

Table of Content 

1)     Introduction  

1.1 - The New Trends

1.2 - The Confusions

1.3 - An Unified Approach

2)   Equations and Diagrams – the model representation

2.1 – Dependent and Independent Variables

2.2 – Linear and Nonlinear Relationship

2.3 – Relation Functions

2.4 – Residuals

3)    Estimation Methods – the link between model and data

3.1 – Identification

3.2 – Estimation Options - OLS, ML and others

3.3 – Newest Options

4)   Explanation – meaning of coefficients

4.1 – Equation Coefficients

4.2 – Hypothesis Test Results

4.3 – Direct, Indirect and Total Effects

5)    Evaluation of models and the Error terms

5.1 – Residuals

5.2 – Fit Indices

5.3 – Equivalent Models

6)   Searching for a Best Model – a step by step modeling approach

6.1 – The Search Process

6.2 – Step 1

6.3 – Step 2

6.4 – Step 3

6.5 – Step 4

6.6 – Step 5

6.7 – Step 6

6.8 – Step 7

7)    Examples

8)   Computing Issues

9)   Conclusion