NEWS
tseLCA 1.0.0
- Initial submission to CRAN.
Core Estimation Framework
- Implemented BCH and ML bias-adjusted three-step estimators for latent class analysis (LCA).
- Added support for structural models containing covariates ($Z_p$), distal outcomes ($Z_o$), and combined models (estimating the relationship between $Z_p$ and the latent class first, followed by the distal outcome adjusting for covariate-adjusted posteriors).
- Implemented analytic sandwich variance estimation to correctly propagate measurement uncertainty from the first-step LCA through classification-error correction in the final step.
- Added a robust standard error option (
use.simple.cov = TRUE) that bypasses the measurement-uncertainty correction for faster computation in large, well-separated samples.
Measurement Model (Step 1) Integration
- Integrated with the 'multilevLCA' package for efficient Step-1 measurement model estimation.
- Added support for polytomous indicator items (0-based integer coding).
- Implemented Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) to handle missing data in the measurement model via the
incomplete = TRUE argument (using a two-pass row-filtering strategy).
- Added the ability to pass a pre-fitted measurement model (via the
step1 argument) to reuse across multiple structural models or apply to different sample subsets.
- Implemented automated random restarts for the measurement model triggered when entropy $R^2$ falls below a user-specified threshold.
Algorithmic Flexibility & Structural Models
- Added support for both modal and proportional (soft) posterior class assignment (
use.modal.assignment).
- Integrated Gaussian, Poisson, and binomial families for distal outcome estimation.
- Added the
rebase argument to allow users to easily change the reference latent class for the multinomial logit parameterization while maintaining invariant log-likelihoods.
- Implemented two-step EM estimation (
fitZ_from_fit0()) to generate stable starting values for the three-step structural model.
Utilities and Methods
- Included standard S3 methods for
tseLCA objects: summary(), coef(), vcov(), and plot() (which delegates to 'multilevLCA' for item-profile visualization).
- Built a data-generating process (
generate_data()) that replicates the Bakk & Kuha (2018) simulation study design for both covariates and distal outcomes under varying separation conditions.