Conceptual Issues in CSEM Estimation and Interpretation: Commentary on Pfadt et al.

Pfadtetal.presentaccessiblemethodsforestimatingconditionalstandarderrorsofmeasurement(CSEMs) and implement them in the open-source software JASP. Their emphasis on individual-level precision representsanimportantcontributiontoappliedmeasurementpractice.Thiscommentarydiscussesseveral conceptual issues that clarify and extend the authors’ treatment of dimensionality, error definition, and score interpretation. The aim is to strengthen alignment between CSEM estimation and the interpretive purposesforwhichtestscoresareused.