LISREL Overview

Lisrel is not general purpose statistical software. It is a program for estimating the coefficients in a set of structural equations. Prelis is a preprocessor for Lisrel. Prelis does a fair amount of data screening before processing (including tests of univariate and multivariate normality) it with Lisrel. It is also used to compute a specified matrix for reading into a Lisrel session. A fairly high level of statistical sophistication is required to use Lisrel/Prelis effectively.

Lisrel is "Special Request" and "Department" software and therefore UITS only offers limited support for this software. Documentation is available in the Swain Hall Library, BUS/SPEA Library, Education Library and the UI TS Stat/Math Center. The UITS Stat/Math Center (812/855-4724 or email: statmath@indiana.edu) can answer basic questions concerning Lisrel.

Note: If you are a student using Lisrel for a class exercise, questions about your class work should be directed first towards your class instructors.

Currently RATS is available on the UITS Research SP System (node aries05). Windows version is also available in the UITS Student Technology Centers.

Lisrel Program Functionality:

Breadth of Functionality: Good

Lisrel is not a general purpose statistical software. It is a program for estimating the coefficients in a set of structural equations. Prelis is a preprocessor for Lisrel. Prelis does a fair amount of data screening before processing (including tests of univariate and multivariate normality) it with Lisrel. It is also used to compute a specified matrix for reading into a Lisrel session. A fairly good statistical sophistication is required to use Lisrel/Prelis effectively.

Some of the capabilities of Lisrel include:

Measurement models and confirmatory factor analysis
Causal models for directly observed variables
Structural equation models for latent variables
Analysis of ordinal and other non-normal variables
Multi-sample analysis
Linear and non-linear constraints
Fit measures
Path diagrams
Bootstrap estimates with Prelis
Multivariate multinomial probit regressions with Prelis

Reliability and Robustness: Good

There are no known bugs in Lisrel. The vendor tries to fix the errors as soon as they are reported.

State of the Art: Fair

The latest version of Lisrel is running on UITS computers. This regarded as the best release yet.

User Friendliness: poor

Lisrel is not regarded as the most friendly software, or as having the most intuitive command language. However, researchers interested in structural equations could use it with a little bit of effort. UITS supports Lisrel under Windows and IBM AIX (RS /6000 node sp05) environment.

Lisrel Help Resources:

Network-based help: Poor

The Knowledge Base (KB) maintained by the UITS Support Center has answers to few basic questions asked about Lisrel and Prelis. This KB may be searched using keywords (e.g., lisrel). There is no local Lisrel User's Group at IU.

Program's Help System: Poor

Lisrel's program Help menu provides limited support. On time sharing computers (UITS RS/6000) no online help is available. For most part reading the manual and talking with a colleague or consultant is the best way to get help with Lisrel/Prelis progra m.

Lisrel Program Availability:

Lisrel is available on UITS systems. For details, see the Statistics Software Availability page.

UITS may offer this software for personal and departmental purchases. See the Sales page for more information.

Lisrel Training and Support:

Document Availability: Fair

A complete set of Lisrel/Prelis documentation is available for reference at various Software Manual Locations. The Stat/Math Center also possesses a set of Lisrel/Prelis documentation for reference. Docum ents may be purchased directly from the vendor(Scientific Software International, Inc., 7383 N Lincoln Ave, Suite 100, Chicago, IL 60646-1704; 800/675-0720).

Training Availability: Poor

There are no UITS coordinated training available for Lisrel. Those who want to get started with Lisrel may contact the Stat/Math Center. Lisrel is used by a number of faculty at IU as a computing tool in the course they offer.

User Group: No

There are no local user groups for Lisrel. However users can subscribe to an internet discussion group and post their Lisrel/Prelis qestions to the net. To subscribe send the message to to LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU with the body of the message SUBSCRIBE SEMNET yourname

UITS Consulting Support: Limited Support

Lisrel is categorized as a faculty sponsored software for support. That is, instructors who use this software for instruction are responsible for consulting support. However, limited consulting support is available from Stat/Math Consultingvia phone, email, and for walkins. Appointment is recommended for walkin consulting.

Other Consulting Support: Fair

Since UITS is providing only limited support for Lisrel students using the software as part of their coursework should contact their instructors first for help. Registered Lisrel users can contact the vendor directly for help. Lisrel users can always t urn to their colleagues who are familiar with the software for help.