Category Archives: Methodology

Playing the alphabet factor game: the S factor for satisfaction

I also wanted to make a name for myself in the competitive field of alphabet factoring in psychology. G factor. P factor. I factor. D factor. Aaaaall the factors. My recent list is already outdated. So here I’ll introduce the S factor, for satisfaction. Look how satisfied this little student frog is! Seriously though, there… Read more »

Does the d (disease) factor really exist?

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Mental health problems are comorbid, which means that they are positively intercorrelated and don’t tend to occur in isolation. Of all people diagnosed with major depression, for example, about half of them have at least one more comorbid mental health problem, such as generalized anxiety disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder. Now, the same holds for… Read more »

Workshops online: formalizing theories, network models, and questionable measurement practices

In the last month, I got to give 3 workshops on fairly different topics, and we made all materials available now. I also followed Lisa’s example (thanks for the tip!) and created an OSF website specifically for my talks and workshops. This blog summarizes the last workshops, and provides links to all materials. 1. Formalizing… Read more »

New commentary on problems with latent class analysis in depression research

We have a new commentary in Molecular Psychiatry entitled “Problems with latent class analysis to detect data-driven subtypes of depression” (PDF; together with the fantastic Hanna van Loo, Rob Wanders & Klaas Wardenaar). This was a response to numerous papers over the last years that found separate latent classes in depression that may be statistical… Read more »