A Cautionary Note on Incremental Fit Indices Reported by LISREL
- ISSN: 16141881
- DOI: 10.1027/1614-1881.1.2.81
Abstract
Incremental fit indices (IFIs) are regularly used when assessing the fit of structural equation models. IFIs are based on the comparison of the fit of a target model with that of a null model. For maximum-likelihood estimation, IFIs are usually computed by using the chi2 statistics of the maximum-likelihood fitting function (ML-chi2). However, LISREL recently changed the computation of IFIs. Since version 8.52, IFIs reported by LISREL are based on the chi2 statistics of the reweighted least squares fitting function (RLS-chi2). Although both functions lead to the same maximum-likelihood parameter estimates, the two chi2 statistics reach different values. Because these differences are especially large for null models, IFIs are affected in particular. Consequently, RLS-chi2 based IFIs in combination with conventional cut-off values explored for ML-chi2 based IFIs may lead to a wrong acceptance of models. We demonstrate this point by a confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 2449 subjects.
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