Final assessment: PLS-SEM: From Research Model to Publication
Pass with 70% or more to unlock your certificate. You can retake it as often as you like; your best score counts.
This assessment covers all nine lessons, from choosing PLS-SEM to reporting the results. Each question describes a situation you will meet in a real study.
Optional capstone project
Modify the sample study and analyse the new model: remove the PE × TR moderation, add direct paths from PE, SI and TR to UB, and run the model with 5,000 subsamples. Then (1) run PLSpredict on the Prediction tab and compare PLS with the LM benchmark, (2) reclassify the four mediation routes now that the direct paths are in the model, and (3) write a one-page results section in the format of Lesson 9.
Assessment questions
Choose one answer per question, then submit. Your answers are graded on our server; the explanations appear after you submit.
Q1A researcher justifies PLS-SEM only because the sample has 120 respondents. What should a reviewer say?
Q2Income, education and occupation together define socio-economic status. How should the construct be specified?
Q3A model takes 290 iterations to converge. What is the most likely situation?
Q4An item has a loading of 0.62, and deleting it raises AVE from 0.47 to 0.56. What do you do?
Q5Cronbach’s alpha is 0.79 and ρC is 0.88. Where does the true reliability probably lie?
Q6HTMT between two distinct constructs is 0.78, with a 95% CI upper bound of 0.91. Using 0.85, what do you conclude?
Q7A path has β = 0.09, p = .048, 95% CI [0.001, 0.180] and f² = 0.008. How do you report it?
Q8Which method gives the strongest evidence of out-of-sample predictive power?
Q9An indirect effect is significant and the direct effect, included in the model, is not. What type of mediation is this?
Q10A moderator strengthens a path that is part of a mediation route. What should you also report?
Q11Before comparing path coefficients between countries with MGA, what must you establish?
Q12In an IPMA for loyalty, construct A has importance 0.45 and performance 48; construct B has importance 0.12 and performance 49. Which is the priority?