Identifiable factor analysis for mixed continuous and binary variables based on the Gaussian-Grassmann distribution

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Arai, Takashi
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866918244502208512
author Arai, Takashi
author_facet Arai, Takashi
contents We develop a factor analysis for mixed continuous and binary observed variables. To this end, we utilized a recently developed multivariate probability distribution for mixed-type random variables, the Gaussian-Grassmann distribution. In the proposed factor analysis, marginalization over latent variables can be performed analytically, yielding an analytical expression for the distribution of the observed variables. This analytical tractability allows model parameters to be estimated using standard gradient-based optimization techniques. We also address improper solutions associated with maximum likelihood factor analysis. We propose a prescription to avoid improper solutions by imposing a constraint that row vectors of the factor loading matrix have the same norm for all features. Then, we prove that the proposed factor analysis is identifiable under the norm constraint. We demonstrate the validity of this norm constraint prescription and numerically verified the model's identifiability using both real and synthetic datasets. We also compare the proposed model with quantification method and found that the proposed model achieves better reproducibility of correlations than the quantification method.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_10804
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identifiable factor analysis for mixed continuous and binary variables based on the Gaussian-Grassmann distribution
Arai, Takashi
Methodology
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
We develop a factor analysis for mixed continuous and binary observed variables. To this end, we utilized a recently developed multivariate probability distribution for mixed-type random variables, the Gaussian-Grassmann distribution. In the proposed factor analysis, marginalization over latent variables can be performed analytically, yielding an analytical expression for the distribution of the observed variables. This analytical tractability allows model parameters to be estimated using standard gradient-based optimization techniques. We also address improper solutions associated with maximum likelihood factor analysis. We propose a prescription to avoid improper solutions by imposing a constraint that row vectors of the factor loading matrix have the same norm for all features. Then, we prove that the proposed factor analysis is identifiable under the norm constraint. We demonstrate the validity of this norm constraint prescription and numerically verified the model's identifiability using both real and synthetic datasets. We also compare the proposed model with quantification method and found that the proposed model achieves better reproducibility of correlations than the quantification method.
title Identifiable factor analysis for mixed continuous and binary variables based on the Gaussian-Grassmann distribution
topic Methodology
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10804