Title: blavaan: Bayesian Latent Variable Models with Stan and JAGS

Author: Edgar C. Merkle

Affiliation: University of Missouri

Abstract:
The talk will detail development and features of R package blavaan, which allows
for Bayesian estimation of latent variable models. The package works by using
lavaan functionality for model specification and summary, while using JAGS and
Stan for model estimation via Markov chain Monte Carlo. In the talk, I will
first discuss initial package developments that started with JAGS and progressed
toward Stan. I will then describe current and future developments, especially
focusing on models that involve combinations of continuous and ordinal observed
variables. Finally, I will provide examples illustrating package functionality
and mention research related to the package.