Latent Variable Models – Factor Analysis
This section will cover latent variable models. Latent variable models attempt to express data in terms of a small number of variables that are hidden or latent. By finding the latent variables that correspond to a dataset, we can better understand the data and potentially even understand where it came from or how it was generated.
Consider students receiving grades in a wide variety of classes, from math to music to foreign languages to chemistry. Psychologists or educators may be interested in using this data to better understand human intelligence. There are several different theories of intelligence that researchers might want to test in the data, for example:
Theory 1: There are two different types of intelligence, and people who possess one type will excel in one set of classes, while people who possess the other type will excel in other classes.
Theory 2: There is only one type of intelligence, and people who possess it will excel at all types...
