can i do a latent class segmentation in a study of student background factors who enter to the higher education

Question

iam doing a research on study about the background factors which affects the students entering the srilankan state universities .i have about 15 categorical variables and want to do a variable reduction and have some clusters with similaraties

Answer 1

If you want to use Latent Class with descriptive variables as your basis variables, then a software system like Latent Gold (not our software) can do this.  Our Latent Class software is used when you have a dependent varaible (choice of concept) resulting from CBC or MaxDiff interviewing, which isn't the case for you.

Another approach is to turn your categorical variables into dummy-coded variables, and submit it to our Convergent Cluster Ensemble Analysis (CCEA) system.  Should produce similar results to latent class, though I don't know for certain which results would be better.

For example, a 3-level categorical demographic variable could be coded as three 0/1 variables, where:

Category 1 = 1 0 0
Category 2 = 0 1 0
Category 3 = 0 0 1

Then, those new 3 binary variables are used in the cluster ensemble routine, rather than the original categorical variable which had been coded as 1, 2, or 3.

Answer 2

Or use the Q software . . its Latent Class capability is very good.
Www.q-researchsoftware.com

Scott