On the exploration of linear latent effect for multivariate modeling

A data analysis method is proposed to derive a latent structure matrix from a sample covariance matrix. The matrix can be used to explore the linear latent effect between two sets of observed variables. Procedures with which to estimate a set of dependent variables from a set of explanatory variables by using latent structure matrix are also proposed. The proposed method can assist the researchers in improving the effectiveness of the SEM models by exploring the latent structure between two sets of variables. In addition, a structure residual matrix can also be derived as a by-product of the proposed method, with which researchers can conduct experimental procedures for variables combinations and selections to build various models for hypotheses testing. These capabilities of data analysis method can improve the effectiveness of traditional SEM methods in data property characterization and models hypotheses testing. Case studies are provided to demonstrate the procedure of deriving latent structure matrix step by step, and the latent structure estimation results are quite close to the results of PLS regression. A structure coefficient index is suggested to explore the relationships among various combinations of variables and their effects on the variance of the latent structure.