This was a very hands-on workshop, as the participants had taken a course in structural equation modeling prior to it. They used Amos in that course, which was great because the workshop then highlighted the power of WarpPLS vis-à-vis a well established and also very useful tool for multivariate analyses with latent variables (Amos). We had about 15 contact hours for this workshop. Activities included commentaries based on video clips, live demonstrations, discussions of selected readings, and practical assignments focusing on linear and nonlinear empirical data analyses.
About 30 percent of the workshop was set aside for “free data analyses”, building on data that the participants brought into the workshop. That is, the participants had time to analyze their own data, and solve specific problems with my help. (There are always issues that are specific to a given dataset; e.g., problems with indicator loadings and interpretation of nonlinear results.) There was also a team workshop project, where participant teams presented an independent empirical study with analyses employing WarpPLS.
Some of the participants were faculty members from other universities in Rio de Janeiro, as well as employees of a few major research and training organizations in Brazil. Among these organizations were Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (a.k.a. FIOCRUZ), and the Escola de Comando e Estado Maior do Exército (ECEME). FIOCRUZ is one of the world’s foremost public health organizations, known for its strengths in various related areas, including epidemiological research. ECEME is an education institution that prepares officers of the Brazilian Army to take up command positions at the rank of General.
