Latent Variable Models and Factor Analysis

Latent variables, variables that cannot be observed directly, have numerous applications, particularly in psychometrics and sociology, and this new edition provides a comprehensive and unified treatment. Extensively revised and including much recent work, the book develops a framework for handling latent variables with standard statistical methods. It includes an introductory chapter, followed by a careful development of the General Linear Latent Variable Model (GLLVM). A large class of latent variable models turns out to be special cases of GLLVM, and the book devotes a number of chapters to specific models. The treatment aims to be mathematically complete and emphasizes questions of precision and goodness of fit. The book features numerous examples and concludes with a critique of some of the popular and widely used linear models.