Investigating Mediation Analysis

Alright readers, get ready to dig deep to learn about a new topic called mediation analysis, which captures the hidden pathways between variables. We’ll start by defining causal mediation analysis and exploring its mathematical implications. Next, we’ll suit up with essential packages such as mediation and lavaan, amazingly useful tools of mediation in the R world.

First, we’ll generate a synthetic dataset to practice on, complete with real-world complexities. Then, we’ll lay the foundational knowledge for identifying those hard-to-find mediation effects.

With that base, we’ll get our hands dirty testing mediation in R step by step. But that’s not all. We’ll level up to multiple mediators, explore mediation’s complicated relationship with moderation, and even tackle the unique challenges of longitudinal data. By the end, you’ll be a mediation master. Let’s dig in and enjoy learning...