02-intro-mplusautomation.Rmd

```{r setup, include=FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = TRUE, 
                      warning = FALSE,
                      message = FALSE) #Here, I have made it so that when you knit your .rmd, warnings and messages will not show up in the html markdown. 
```


# Introduction to `MplusAutomation`

---

 `MplusAutomation`[@hallquist2018] is designed to streamline the use of Mplus, a powerful statistical software for modeling complex data developed by Muthen and Muten (https://www.statmodel.com). With `MplusAutomation`, researchers can automate the process of estimating latent variable models, running batches of models, extracting results, and generating data visualizations - all within the R environment. 

--- 

**WHAT?**

-   `MplusAutomation` is an `R` package
-   It "wraps around" the `Mplus` program
-   Requires both `R` & `Mplus` software
-   Requires learning some basics of 2 programming languages
-   Car metaphor: R/Rstudio is the *steering wheel or dashboard* & Mplus is the *engine*

---

**WHY?**

-   `MplusAutomation` can provide clearly organized work procedures in which every research decision can be documented in a single place
-   Increase reproducibility, organization, efficiency, and transparency

---

**HOW?**

-   The interface for MplusAutomation is entirely within R-Studio. You do not need to open Mplus
-   The code presented will be very repetitive by design

---

Below is a template for `mplusObject()` & `mplusModeler()` functions. Use this template to run statistical models with Mplus. 

```{r, eval = FALSE}
m_template  <- mplusObject(
  
  TITLE = 
    "", 
  
  VARIABLE = 
    "",
  
  ANALYSIS = 
    "",
  
  PLOT = 
    "",
  
  OUTPUT = 
    "",
 
  usevariables = colnames(), 
  rdata =  )

m_template_fit <- mplusModeler(m_template, 
                  dataout=here("", ".dat"),
                  modelout=here("", ".inp"),
                  check=TRUE, run = TRUE, hashfilename = FALSE)

```


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