Compare methods

	Latent Transition Analysis in Education	Latent Transition Analysis
Field	Education	Psychometrics
Family	Latent structure	Latent structure
Year of origin	2010	2002
Originator	Latent variable methodology (Collins & Wugalter; Collins & Lanza)	Linda M. Collins, Stephanie T. Lanza
Type	Longitudinal latent class model for movement between qualitative learner states	Markovian transition between latent states
Seminal source	Collins, L. M., & Lanza, S. T. (2010). Latent Class and Latent Transition Analysis: With Applications in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences. Wiley. ISBN: 9780470228395	Collins, L. M., & Lanza, S. T. (2010). Latent Class and Latent Transition Analysis: With Applications in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences. Wiley. ISBN: 9780470228395
Aliases	Educational LTA, Latent Markov Modeling of Learning, Stage-Sequential Latent Class Modeling, Latent Transition Modeling	LTA
Related	4	4
Summary	Latent transition analysis (LTA) is a longitudinal extension of latent class analysis that models how individuals move between qualitatively distinct, unobserved categories over time. In education it represents students as belonging to learner profiles or developmental stages — for example, types of motivation, reading-strategy profiles, or mastery stages — and estimates the probabilities of transitioning from one profile to another between time points. It answers not only how many kinds of learners there are, but how learners change type as instruction and development unfold.	Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) is a method for studying transitions between latent classes over time, developed by Collins and Lanza (2010). LTA combines latent class analysis (grouping individuals into classes) with Markovian transition models to understand how people move between qualitatively distinct states across time periods.