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Estimating a User-Defined Quantity in Bayesian SEM
Dichotomous Custom Estimands
Visual inspection of the frequency polygon reveals that the majority of difference
values are negative, but it does not tell us exactly what proportion of values are
negative. That proportion is our estimate of the probability that the indirect effect
exceeds the direct effect. To estimate probabilities like these, we can use dichotomous
estimands. In Visual Basic (or C#) programs, dichotomous estimands are just like
numeric estimands except that dichotomous estimands take on only two values: true
and false. In order to estimate the probability that the indirect effect is more negative
than the direct effect, we need to define a function of the model parameters that is true
when the indirect effect is more negative than the direct effect and is false otherwise.
Defining a Dichotomous Estimand
E Name each dichotomous estimand in the DeclareEstimands subroutine. For purposes of
illustration, we will declare two dichotomous estimands, calling them “indirect is less
than zero”
and “indirect is smaller than direct”.