Evaluating Sensitivity of Parameters of Interest to Measurement Invariance in Latent Variable Models

Latent variable models can only be compared across groups when these groups exhibit measurement equivalence or “invariance,” since otherwise substantive differences may be confounded with measurement differences. This article suggests examining directly whether measurement differences present could confound substantive analyses, by examining the expected parameter change (EPC)-interest. The EPC-interest approximates the change in parameters of interest that can be expected when freeing cross-group invariance restrictions. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the EPC-interest approximates these changes well. Three empirical applications show that the EPC-interest can help avoid two undesirable situations: first, it can prevent unnecessarily concluding that groups are incomparable, and second, it alerts the user when comparisons of interest may still be invalidated even when the invariance model appears to fit the data. R code and data for the examples discussed in this article are provided in the electronic appendix (http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/21816).

Report. Migrants to The Royal Society, 1930–1940

It is well known that after the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, many scholars, musicians, artists and writers were expelled or found it impossible to continue to work in Gemany. Scientists also, especially those of Jewish descent or connections, similarly left Germany and countries that came under the influence of Germany. Many of those artists, scholars and scientists who came to Britain stimulated the efflorescence of intellectual, artistic and scientific life in the years after the end of World War II. Those influences have been described in a number of books, albeit mostly in rather general terms. The list that is the subject of this note includes by contrast all Fellows and Foreign Members of the Society, so far as it has been possible to identify them, who after leaving for Britain or for other lands, were elected to the Society (electronic Appendix A).