A Note on the Likelihood Ratio Test in High-Dimensional Exploratory Factor Analysis

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: He, Yinqiu, Wang, Zi, Xu, Gongjun
Format: Preprint
Published: 2020
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author He, Yinqiu
Wang, Zi
Xu, Gongjun
author_facet He, Yinqiu
Wang, Zi
Xu, Gongjun
contents The likelihood ratio test is widely used in exploratory factor analysis to assess the model fit and determine the number of latent factors. Despite its popularity and clear statistical rationale, researchers have found that when the dimension of the response data is large compared to the sample size, the classical chi-square approximation of the likelihood ratio test statistic often fails. Theoretically, it has been an open problem when such a phenomenon happens as the dimension of data increases; practically, the effect of high dimensionality is less examined in exploratory factor analysis, and there lacks a clear statistical guideline on the validity of the conventional chi-square approximation. To address this problem, we investigate the failure of the chi-square approximation of the likelihood ratio test in high-dimensional exploratory factor analysis, and derive the necessary and sufficient condition to ensure the validity of the chi-square approximation. The results yield simple quantitative guidelines to check in practice and would also provide useful statistical insights into the practice of exploratory factor analysis.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2008_06596
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Note on the Likelihood Ratio Test in High-Dimensional Exploratory Factor Analysis
He, Yinqiu
Wang, Zi
Xu, Gongjun
Statistics Theory
The likelihood ratio test is widely used in exploratory factor analysis to assess the model fit and determine the number of latent factors. Despite its popularity and clear statistical rationale, researchers have found that when the dimension of the response data is large compared to the sample size, the classical chi-square approximation of the likelihood ratio test statistic often fails. Theoretically, it has been an open problem when such a phenomenon happens as the dimension of data increases; practically, the effect of high dimensionality is less examined in exploratory factor analysis, and there lacks a clear statistical guideline on the validity of the conventional chi-square approximation. To address this problem, we investigate the failure of the chi-square approximation of the likelihood ratio test in high-dimensional exploratory factor analysis, and derive the necessary and sufficient condition to ensure the validity of the chi-square approximation. The results yield simple quantitative guidelines to check in practice and would also provide useful statistical insights into the practice of exploratory factor analysis.
title A Note on the Likelihood Ratio Test in High-Dimensional Exploratory Factor Analysis
topic Statistics Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06596