Irini Moustaki - Böcker

This edited volume features cutting-edge topics from the leading researchers in the areas of latent variable modeling. Content highlights include coverage of approaches dealing with missing values, semi-parametric estimation, robust analysis, hierarchical data, factor scores, multi-group analysis, and model testing. New methodological topics are illustrated with real applications. The material presented brings together two traditions: psychometrics and structural equation modeling. Latent Variable and Latent Structure Models' thought-provoking chapters from the leading researchers in the area will help to stimulate ideas for further research for many years to come. This volume will be of interest to researchers and practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines, including biology, business, economics, education, medicine, psychology, sociology, and other social and behavioral sciences. A working knowledge of basic multivariate statistics and measurement theory is assumed.

Latent Variable Models and Factor Analysis provides a comprehensive and unified approach to factor analysis and latent variable modeling from a statistical perspective. This book presents a general framework to enable the derivation of the commonly used models, along with updated numerical examples. Nature and interpretation of a latent variable is also introduced along with related techniques for investigating dependency. This book: Provides a unified approach showing how such apparently diverse methods as Latent Class Analysis and Factor Analysis are actually members of the same family.Presents new material on ordered manifest variables, MCMC methods, non-linear models as well as a new chapter on related techniques for investigating dependency.Includes new sections on structural equation models (SEM) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods for parameter estimation, along with new illustrative examples.Looks at recent developments on goodness-of-fit test statistics and on non-linear models and models with mixed latent variables, both categorical and continuous.No prior acquaintance with latent variable modelling is pre-supposed but a broad understanding of statistical theory will make it easier to see the approach in its proper perspective. Applied statisticians, psychometricians, medical statisticians, biostatisticians, economists and social science researchers will benefit from this book.

This edited volume features cutting-edge topics from the leading researchers in the areas of latent variable modeling. Content highlights include coverage of approaches dealing with missing values, semi-parametric estimation, robust analysis, hierarchical data, factor scores, multi-group analysis, and model testing. New methodological topics are illustrated with real applications. The material presented brings together two traditions: psychometrics and structural equation modeling. Latent Variable and Latent Structure Models' thought-provoking chapters from the leading researchers in the area will help to stimulate ideas for further research for many years to come. This volume will be of interest to researchers and practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines, including biology, business, economics, education, medicine, psychology, sociology, and other social and behavioral sciences. A working knowledge of basic multivariate statistics and measurement theory is assumed.

Drawing on the authors’ varied experiences researching and teaching in the field, Analysis of Multivariate Social Science Data: Statistical Machine Learning Methods, Third Edition enables a basic understanding of how to use key multivariate methods in the social sciences. With minimal mathematical and statistical knowledge required, this third edition expands its topics to include graphical modelling, models for longitudinal data, structural equation models for categorical variables, and latent class analysis for ordinal, nominal, and continuous variables. It also connects the topics to terminology and principles of machine learning, intended to help readers grasp the links between methods of multivariate analysis and advancements in the field of data science.After describing methods for the summarisation of data in the first part of the book, the authors consider regression analysis. This chapter provides a link between the two halves of the book, signalling the move from descriptive to inferential methods. The remainder of the text deals with model-based methods that primarily make inferences about processes that generate data.Relying heavily on numerical examples from a range of disciplines, the authors provide insight into the purpose and working of the methods as well as the interpretation of results from analyses. Many of the same examples are used throughout to illustrate connections between the methods. In most chapters, the authors present suggestions for further work that go beyond conventional practice, encouraging readers to explore new ground in social science research.FeaturesContains new chapters on undirected graphical modelling and models for longitudinal data, as well as new material such as K-means, cross-validation, structural equation models for categorical variables, latent class analysis for categorical, nominal and continuous variables, and treatment of missing data.Connects topics with terminology and principles of machine learning.Presents numerous examples of real-world applications, including voting preferences, social attitudes, educational assessment, recidivism, and health.Covers methods that summarise, describe, and explore multivariate datasets, including longitudinal data.Establishes a unified approach to latent variable modelling by providing detailed coverage of methods such as item response theory, factor analysis for continuous and categorical data, and models for categorical latent variables.Covers models for hierarchical and longitudinal data and their connections to latent variable models.Offers a full version of the data sets in the text or the book’s website, with software code for implementing the analyses on the website.The book offers a balanced and accessible resource for students and researchers with limited mathematical and statistical training. It serves as a practical resource for courses in multivariate analysis and as a guide for applying these techniques in applied research.

Drawing on the authors’ varied experiences researching and teaching in the field, Analysis of Multivariate Social Science Data: Statistical Machine Learning Methods, Third Edition enables a basic understanding of how to use key multivariate methods in the social sciences. With minimal mathematical and statistical knowledge required, this third edition expands its topics to include graphical modelling, models for longitudinal data, structural equation models for categorical variables, and latent class analysis for ordinal, nominal, and continuous variables. It also connects the topics to terminology and principles of machine learning, intended to help readers grasp the links between methods of multivariate analysis and advancements in the field of data science.After describing methods for the summarisation of data in the first part of the book, the authors consider regression analysis. This chapter provides a link between the two halves of the book, signalling the move from descriptive to inferential methods. The remainder of the text deals with model-based methods that primarily make inferences about processes that generate data.Relying heavily on numerical examples from a range of disciplines, the authors provide insight into the purpose and working of the methods as well as the interpretation of results from analyses. Many of the same examples are used throughout to illustrate connections between the methods. In most chapters, the authors present suggestions for further work that go beyond conventional practice, encouraging readers to explore new ground in social science research.FeaturesContains new chapters on undirected graphical modelling and models for longitudinal data, as well as new material such as K-means, cross-validation, structural equation models for categorical variables, latent class analysis for categorical, nominal and continuous variables, and treatment of missing data.Connects topics with terminology and principles of machine learning.Presents numerous examples of real-world applications, including voting preferences, social attitudes, educational assessment, recidivism, and health.Covers methods that summarise, describe, and explore multivariate datasets, including longitudinal data.Establishes a unified approach to latent variable modelling by providing detailed coverage of methods such as item response theory, factor analysis for continuous and categorical data, and models for categorical latent variables.Covers models for hierarchical and longitudinal data and their connections to latent variable models.Offers a full version of the data sets in the text or the book’s website, with software code for implementing the analyses on the website.The book offers a balanced and accessible resource for students and researchers with limited mathematical and statistical training. It serves as a practical resource for courses in multivariate analysis and as a guide for applying these techniques in applied research.

This book provides a selection of modern and sophisticated methodologies for the analysis of large and complex univariate and multivariate categorical data. It gives an overview of a substantive and broad collection of topics in the analysis of categorical data, including association, marginal and graphical models, time series and fixed effects models, as well as modern methods of estimation such as regularization, Bayesian estimation and bias reduction methods, along with new simple measures for model interpretability. Methodological innovations and developments are illustrated and explained through real-world applications, together with useful R packages, allowing readers to replicate most of the analyses using the provided code. The applications span a variety of disciplines, including education, psychology, health, economics, and social sciences.