Social Relations Model

Researchers frequently use the round-robin design to assess psychological variables. In this design, each member of a group rates each other group member. In personality psychology, for instance, group members are asked to judge each other in terms of how much they like each other. The resulting data (called round-robin data) can be analyzed using the social relations model and/or social network models. In our research, we showed that the social relations model is a special type of a linear mixed model, and we suggested a restricted maximum likelihood estimator to estimate to SRM parameters. We also combined the SRM with the structural equation model framework and suggested a maximum likelihood estimator for this model.

Representative publications:

Nestler, S. (2016). Restricted maximum likelihood estimation for parameters of the social relations model. Psychometrika, 81, 1098-1117.

Nestler, S., Luedtke, O., & Robitzsch, A. (2020). Maximum likelihood estimation of a social relations structural equation model. Psychometrika, 85, 870-889.

Nestler, S., Luedtke, O., & Robitzsch, A. (2022). Analyzing longitudinal social relations model data using the social relations structural equation model. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 47, 231-260.

Nestler, S., Geukes, K., Hutteman, R., & Back, M. D. (2017). Tackling longitudinal round-robin data: The Social Relations Growth Model. Psychometrika, 82, 1162-1181.