Latent Class Analysis (LCA)

Latent class analysis is a probabilistic model-based clustering technique that identifies unobserved subgroups — latent classes — within a population on the basis of patterns of categorical, binary, or ordinal indicator responses. Originating in sociological measurement theory with Lazarsfeld's latent structure work around 1950 and formalised computationally by Goodman in the 1970s, it is widely used in the social, health, and behavioural sciences to reveal hidden population heterogeneity.