Hi @philc86,
One way you can do this in JMP Pro is by using the SEM platform; it allows you to specify the full model, the restricted model, and then gives you a statistical test of the difference. This test is a chi-square but it'll lead to the same inference as the R^2 in hierarchical regression.
Indeed, a multiple regression model can be fit in the SEM with the same results as the Fit Model platform. One particular advantage of doing this analysis in SEM is that it handles missing data with a cutting-edge algorithm by default, so no data are thrown away leading to increased power.
There's a bit of a learning curve if you've never used SEM before, however, I'm including a couple of JSL scripts here in case they help:
1) Running the script in "Compare_FitModel_to_SEM.jsl" will show you the results of a multiple regression using the Fit Model platform and the SEM platform. You can look at the output side by side to see the same results:
2) The script "Hierarchical_Regression_in_SEM.jsl" fits two models in the same SEM report; the full model, which has all the variables predicting the outcome, and the restricted model, which has all but one (or more) variables without an effect on the outcome. In the SEM path diagram, a regression effect is depicted as an arrow, so you can see the full model has all the effects:
and the restricted model has one effect fixed to zero:
In this example, the chi-square difference test shows a statistically significant amount of misfit induced by fixing the effect of one variable to zero:
Thus, we conclude that the full model is the better model.
One possible disadvantage of doing this in SEM is that the variances and covariances of the predictors are all estimated as part of the model, and thus, you might need a reasonably large sample size for all to work properly. Also, if you have categorical predictors, they need to be entered as numeric binary variables (like dummy-coded variables in multiple regression).
HTH,
~Laura
Laura C-S