Fixed: Amos ignored the Use visibility settings check box in the Object Properties dialog.
Fixed: In the Specification Search window, the Show parameter estimates button did not work.
Fixed: In the Specification Search window, optional arrows were sometimes displayed in the wrong color.
Fixed: In the text output window, clicking on blue text, which should display context-sensitive help, sometimes caused Amos to stop responding.
Fixed: Amos crashed when you attempted to use the Growth Curve Model plugin.
Fixed: Amos sometimes displayed the message, “System.InvalidOperationException: Form that is already visible cannot be displayed as a modal dialog box.”
Fixed: Amos sometimes displayed the message “System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.”
Fixed: Amos sometimes displayed the following uninformative error message when a latent variable name contained invalid characters: “The file containing parameter estimates is in the wrong format.” (Now an informative error message is displayed.)
Fixed: During data imputation, Amos displayed an uninformative error message when the data file or the model contained a variable called CaseNo or Imputation_.
When the Amos Output window is used to view a text output (*.AmosOutput) file, the Notes for Model section of the text output is displayed initially. Previously, the Analysis Summary section was displayed initially.
Variable names in Amos must now be valid SPSS variable names, except that Amos variable names are permitted to start with a numeric character. In order to perform imputation, which requires the creation of a new data file, Amos variable names must be valid SPSS variable names without exception. (Variable names that start with a numeric character are not permitted.)
You can open the Object Properties dialog by double-clicking an object in the path diagram. (Amos 5 had this capability. Now it is back.)
The appearance of path diagrams is improved.
The drawing interface is faster and more responsive.
Objects in path diagrams can be translucent with color gradients.
When variables in a path diagram are moved, all connecting arrows move simultaneously.
The magnifier tool (previously called the loupe tool) is improved.
Classes and class members can be selected from dropdown lists.
Code completion in the Program Editor is improved.
The Program Editor displays helpful tooltips when the mouse is hovered over a token.
When path diagrams are copied to the clipboard, they are now copied as bitmaps, not as Windows metafiles. The bitmap format has the drawback that the image of a path diagram becomes degraded when you resize the image after pasting it into another application such as Microsoft Word.
In the list of path diagram files in the left pane of the path diagram window, you can click a file name to open its path diagram. (It used to be a double-click.)
Context-sensitive help is now accessed in a consistent way throughout Amos Graphics. To obtain help for an individual element (such as a button or a check box) of an Amos Graphics window, hold the mouse pointer over that element and press F1.
FillStyle property now has no effect Pen Width: The four pen widths, very thin, thin, thick, very thick are not used.
The path diagram browser (formerly called the path diagram viewer) has been moved from the Windows Start menu to the Amos Graphics File menu.
The Customize item has been removed the Tools menu in Amos Graphics.
Variables of type Single are now of type Double.
Arguments to AboutToshowMessageBox have changed.
The PathDiagrammer WindowHandle method has been eliminated.
The PathDiagrammer Form method has been replaced by the Window method.
The PDElement Highlighted property has been renamed to IsHighlighted.
The PDElement Selected property has been renamed to IsSelected.
You can now copy and paste a path diagram, or part of a path diagram, from one Amos Graphics window to another.
The growth curve modeling capability has been enhanced. The growth curve plugin now automatically constrains parameters in a way that is appropriate for many growth curve models.
You can now specify a default value for the All groups check box. This allows you to choose whether the path diagram objects that you draw will start out with a check mark next to All groups, or with no check mark next to All groups.
Finite mixture modeling
With this release, Amos's version number jumps from 7.0 to 16.0. This gap in the sequence of version numbers was created in order to synchronize Amos's version numbering with that of PASW Statistics.
On the Parameters tab of the Object Properties dialog, the All Groups check box is now initially checked for newly created objects. (Previously, it was unchecked for newly created objects.) This change means that now when you assign a name or a value to a parameter in a multi-group analysis, the same name or value is automatically assigned to the corresponding parameter in other groups. For example, if you set a regression weight to zero in any group, that regression weight will simultaneously be set to zero in all groups. If you want to name a parameter or give it a constant value in some groups but not others, remove the check mark next to All Groups.
Fixed: The VariableNumber method of the AmosEngine class returned
an incorrect value when means and intercepts were explicit model parameters.
Estimation with ordered-categorical and censored data
Data imputation with ordered-categorical and censored data
Estimation of posterior predictive distributions
New MCMC algorithm
Amos 7.0 implements Hamiltonian MCMC as an alternative to the random walk
Metropolis algorithm. There are some limits on when Hamiltonian MCMC can be
used. (Search for "Hamiltonian" in the online help for more information and for
some references.) Hamiltonian MCMC can be substantially faster than random walk
Metropolis for numerical data.
Random walk Metropolis is still the default. To select Hamiltonian MCMC, click
the Options button in the Bayesian SEM window. Then in the Options window, on
the Technical tab, select Hamiltonian MCMC.
Automatic adaptation of MCMC algorithm
In previous versions of Amos, you could adjust the Metropolis "tuning
parameter" manually. You can still do that. In addition, Hamiltonian MCMC has
two parameters that can be manually adjusted on the Technical tab of the
Bayesian Options window.
Amos 7.0 provides an Adapt button that adjusts the parameters of the
MCMC algorithm automatically. (Look for a wrench (spanner) icon on the Bayesian
SEM toolbar.) The Adapt button analyzes the history of MCMC observations and
attempts to update the parameters of the MCMC algorithm (either random walk
Metropolis or Hamiltonian) to improve its performance. Some judgment is
required in deciding whether to press the Adapt button. Clicking the Adapt
button causes the previous MCMC observations to be discarded. The MCMC
algorithm then starts all over again from scratch. For this reason you don't
want to click the Adapt button if it looks like the algorithm is about to meet
its convergence criterion.
Bayesian measures of fit
Amos 7.0 calculates posterior predictive p-values, which Lee & Song (2003)
and Scheines, Hoijtink & Boomsma (1999) have previously used in SEM. For
non-numeric data, Amos 7.0 computes DIC (Gelman, et al. 2004)). To calculate
these fit measures, click the Fit Measures button in the Bayesian SEM window.
(The Fit Measures icon looks like an assayer's balance scale.) Note: Context-sensitive
help is not available in the Fit Measures window.
Improved clipboard support
The contents of the Bayesian window can now be copied and pasted to a Microsoft
Word document while preserving table formatting.
For most Amos 7.0 windows, context-sensitive online help can be displayed with the F1 key or with SHIFT-F1. For some windows, context-sensitive online help is obtained, as in Amos 5, by right-clicking a window element such as a label or checkbox and selecting What's This or Help from the menu that pops up.
By default, path diagram files (*.amw files) that are saved by Amos 6 cannot be read by Amos 5. To save a *.amw file that can be read by Amos 5, select Save As from the File menu. Then in the Save As dialog, select Amos 5 Input file from the Save as type dropdown list.
Amos Basic programs and Visual Basic 6 programs require upgrading to VB.NET or C#.
Macros in Amos 5 are now called "plugins". Plugins (formerly known as macros) have been moved from the Tools menu to the Amos Graphics main menu.
Amos 6 recognizes long variable names in PASW Statistics (*.sav) data files. Amos 5 does not. It truncates long variable names to eight characters. Because of this change in the treatment of long variable names, path diagrams created using Amos 5 may have to be modified. As an example, suppose you have a PASW Statistics data file that contains data on a variable called "abcdefghi" (nine characters), and that you used Amos 5 to draw a path diagram in which you referred to that variable by the eight-character name "abcdefgh". In moving to Amos 6, you will need to change the path diagram so as to refer to the variable by its full nine-character name.
Changes to the AmosEngine class
The Structure method was renamed AStructure. This change was required because Structure is a keyword in VB.NET.
The Dir property was renamed AmosDir. This change was required because Dir is a keyword in VB.NET.
Members of the TMatrixID enum and the TMatrixContents enum were renamed as follows
maAllImpliedMoments was renamed AllImpliedMoments
maImpliedMoments was renamed ImpliedMoments
maTotalEffects was renamed TotalEffects
... and so on
On the Amos Graphics menu, View/Set has been renamed View. Model-Fit has been renamed Analyze.
The key combination ctrl-B is now a shortcut for Analyze->Bayesian. In Amos 5, ctrl-B was a shortcut for Tools->Outline.
In Amos 5, but not Amos 6,you can open the Object Properties dialog by double-clicking an object in a path diagram. In Amos 6, instead of double-clicking an object, right-click the object and select Object Properties from the menu that pops up. In Amos 6, Object Properties is the first item on the popup menu. (In Amos 5, it was the last item.)
For most Amos 6 windows, context-sensitive online help can be displayed with the F1 key or with SHIFT-F1. For some windows, context-sensitive online help is obtained, as in Amos 5, by right-clicking a window element such as a label or checkbox and selecting What's This or Help from the menu that pops up.
The Languages tab has been removed from the Interface Properties dialog.
Bayesian estimation
Imputation of missing values
Imputation of latent variable scores
Print Preview for path diagrams
Improved zooming and scrolling
Use mouse wheel to zoom
Use scrollbars to scroll
Improved loupe (magnifying glass) tool. Use the mouse wheel to adjust magnification.
One-click creation of variables in path diagrams
Enhanced context menus for drawing path diagrams
When copying a path diagram to the clipboard, if some objects are selected (using Edit->Select on the menu), only the selected objects are copied to the clipboard.
You can have multiple Amos Graphics windows open simultaneously, each with a different path diagram.
2. Using other programs to view text output
3. Differences between Amos 4.01 and Amos 5
5. "$" character not permitted in variable names
Amos's text output files (with the AmosOutput extension) are best viewed with the built-in viewer, which requires that you have Internet Explorer 6 or later installed. IE 6 does not have to be your default web browser. It just needs to be installed.
If you do not have Internet Explorer 6 or later installed, Amos will attempt to use your default web browser to display text output. The following browsers display Amos output satisfactorily: Mozilla 1.2.1, Netscape 7.02 and Opera 7.0.1. Some older browsers do not render Amos 5 tables correctly.
The text output viewer supplied with Amos 5 provides many capabilities not available in a web browser. For this reason, the installation of Internet Explorer 6 or later is recommended.
The following techniques for viewing Amos text output files (with the AmosOutput extension) have been tested with Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Excel 2000, Internet Explorer 6 and Opera 7.
Amos 5 provides the following new text macros in addition to those in Amos 4.01. (Search for "text macros" in the online help index for an explanation of how text macros are used.)
The "$" character is not permitted in variable names. In PASW Statistics data files, variables with names that contain the "$" character are ignored.
The Amos 5.0 Update to the Amos User's Guide incorrectly states that the Amos Graphics menu is customizable. The Amos Graphics toolbar is customizable, but the menu is not.
The Amos 5.0 Update to the Amos User's Guide incorrectly states that the Amos Graphics menu and toolbar can "float" in separate windows. The menu and the toolbar are always "docked" to an edge of the Amos Graphics window, and cannot be made to float.
Raftery, A. (1993). Bayesian model selection in structural equation models. In K. Bollen & J. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 163–180): Newbury Park, California.
Raftery, A. (1995). Bayesian model selection in social research. In P. Marsden (Ed.), Sociological Methodology 1995 (pp. 111-163): San Francisco.