Formulating clinical research hypotheses as structural equation models: a conceptual overview.

Structural equation modeling is a comprehensive, flexible approach to research design and data analysis. Although in recent years there has been phenomenal growth in the literature on technical aspects of structural equation modeling, relatively little attention has been devoted to conceiving research hypotheses as structural equation models. The aim of this article is to provide a conceptual overview of clinical research hypotheses that invite evaluation as structural equation models. Particular attention is devoted to hypotheses that are not adequately evaluated using traditional statistical models.