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Multi-Group Factor Analysis

Po-Hsien Huang

In this example, we will show how to use lslx to conduct multi-group factor analysis. The example uses data HolzingerSwineford1939 in the package lavaan. Hence, lavaan must be installed.

Model Specification

In the following specification, x1 - x9 is assumed to be measurements of 3 latent factors: visual, textual, and speed.

model_mgfa <- "visual  :=> 1 * x1 + x2 + x3 
               textual :=> 1 * x4 + x5 + x6 
               speed   :=> 1 * x7 + x8 + x9"

The operator :=> means that the LHS latent factors is defined by the RHS observed variables. In this model, visual is mainly measured by x1 - x3, textual is mainly measured by x4 - x6, and speed is mainly measured by x7 - x9. Loadings of x1, x4, and x7 are fixed at 1 for scale setting. The above specification is valid for both groups. Details of model syntax can be found in the section of Model Syntax via ?lslx.

Object Initialization

lslx is written as an R6 class. Everytime we conduct analysis with lslx, an lslx object must be initialized. The following code initializes an lslx object named lslx_mgfa.

library(lslx)
lslx_mgfa <- lslx$new(model = model_mgfa,
                    data = lavaan::HolzingerSwineford1939,
                    group_variable = "school",
                    reference_group = "Pasteur")
An 'lslx' R6 class is initialized via 'data' argument. 
  Response Variables: x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 
  Latent Factors: visual textual speed 
  Groups: Grant-White Pasteur 
  Reference Group: Pasteur 
NOTE: Because Pasteur is set as reference, coefficients in other groups actually represent increments from the reference.

Here, lslx is the object generator for lslx object and new is the build-in method of lslx to generate a new lslx object. The initialization of lslx requires users to specify a model for model specification (argument model) and a data set to be fitted (argument sample_data). The data set must contain all the observed variables specified in the given model. Because in this example a multi-group analysis is considered, variable for group labeling (argument group_variable) must be specified. In lslx, two types of parameterization can be used in multi-group analysis. The first type is the same with the traditional multi-group SEM, which treats model parameters in each group separately. The second type sets one group as reference and treats model parameters in other groups as increments with respect to the reference. Under the second type of parameterization, the group heterogeneity can be efficiently explored if we treat the increments as penalized parameters. In this example, Pasteur is set as reference. Hence, the parameters in Grant-White now reflect differences from the reference.

Model Respecification

After an lslx object is initialized, the heterogeneity of a multi-group model can be quickly respecified by $free_heterogeneity(), $fix_heterogeneity(), and $penalize_heterogeneity() methods. The following code sets x2<-visual, x3<-visual, x5<-textual, x6<-textual, x8<-speed, x9<-speed, and x2<-1, x3<-1, x5<-1, x6<-1, x8<-1, x9<-1 in Grant-White as penalized parameters. Note that parameters in Grant-White now reflect differences since Pasteur is set as reference.

lslx_mgfa$penalize_heterogeneity(block = c("y<-1", "y<-f"), group = "Grant-White")
The relation x1<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x2<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x3<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x4<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x5<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x6<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x7<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x8<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x9<-1 under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x2<-visual under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x3<-visual under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x5<-textual under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x6<-textual under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x8<-speed under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
The relation x9<-speed under Grant-White is set as PENALIZED with starting value = 0. 
NOTE: Because Pasteur is set as reference, a relation under other group actually represents an increment. 
NOTE: Please check whether the starting value for the increment represents a difference. 

Since the homogeneity of latent factor means may not be a reasonable assumption when examining measurement invariance, the following code relaxes this assumption

lslx_mgfa$free_block(block = "f<-1", group = "Grant-White")
The relation visual<-1 under Grant-White is set as FREE with starting value = 0. 
The relation textual<-1 under Grant-White is set as FREE with starting value = 0. 
The relation speed<-1 under Grant-White is set as FREE with starting value = 0. 
NOTE: Because Pasteur is set as reference, a relation under other group actually represents an increment. 
NOTE: Please check whether the starting value for the increment represents a difference. 

To see more methods to modify a specified model, please check the section of Set-Related Method via ?lslx.

Model Fitting

After an lslx object is initialized, method $fit_mcp() can be used to fit the specified model into the given data with MCP.

lslx_mgfa$fit_mcp()
CONGRATS: Algorithm converges under EVERY specified penalty level.
  Specified Tolerance for Convergence: 0.001 
  Specified Maximal Number of Iterations: 100 

All the fitting result will be stored in the fitting field of lslx_mgfa.

Model Summarizing

Unlike traditional SEM analysis, lslx fits the model into data under all the penalty levels considered. To summarize the fitting result, a selector to determine an optimal penalty level must be specified. Available selectors can be found in the section of Penalty Level Selection via ?lslx. The following code summarize the fitting result under the penalty level selected by Haughton’s Bayesian information criterion (HBIC).

lslx_mgfa$summarize(selector = "hbic")
General Information                                                            
   number of observations                                301
   number of complete observations                       301
   number of missing patterns                           none
   number of groups                                        2
   number of responses                                     9
   number of factors                                       3
   number of free coefficients                            48
   number of penalized coefficients                       15

Numerical Conditions                                                            
   selected lambda                                     0.134
   selected delta                                      3.063
   selected step                                        none
   objective value                                     0.485
   objective gradient absolute maximum                 0.001
   objective Hessian convexity                         0.187
   number of iterations                               11.000
   loss value                                          0.430
   number of non-zero coefficients                    50.000
   degrees of freedom                                 58.000
   robust degrees of freedom                          60.646
   scaling factor                                      1.046

Fit Indices                                                            
   root mean square error of approximation (rmsea)     0.090
   comparative fit index (cfi)                         0.919
   non-normed fit index (nnfi)                         0.900
   standardized root mean of residual (srmr)           0.085

Likelihood Ratio Test
                    statistic         df    p-value
   unadjusted         129.424     58.000      0.000
   mean-adjusted      123.777     58.000      0.000

Root Mean Square Error of Approximation Test
                     estimate      lower      upper
   unadjusted           0.090      0.065      0.115
   mean-adjusted        0.089      0.063      0.114

Coefficient Test (Group = "Pasteur", Std.Error = "sandwich")
  Factor Loading (reference component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
       x1<-visual    fixed     1.000        -        -        -      -      -  
       x2<-visual     free     0.604      0.143    4.211    0.000  0.323  0.885
       x3<-visual     free     0.789      0.157    5.027    0.000  0.481  1.096
      x4<-textual    fixed     1.000        -        -        -      -      -  
      x5<-textual     free     1.120      0.067   16.599    0.000  0.988  1.252
      x6<-textual     free     0.932      0.064   14.678    0.000  0.808  1.057
        x7<-speed    fixed     1.000        -        -        -      -      -  
        x8<-speed     free     1.200      0.134    8.947    0.000  0.937  1.463
        x9<-speed     free     1.040      0.208    5.005    0.000  0.633  1.448

  Covariance (reference component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
 textual<->visual     free     0.406      0.135    3.017    0.003  0.142  0.671
   speed<->visual     free     0.169      0.066    2.565    0.010  0.040  0.298
  speed<->textual     free     0.173      0.060    2.899    0.004  0.056  0.290

  Variance (reference component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
  visual<->visual     free     0.801      0.230    3.489    0.000  0.351  1.252
textual<->textual     free     0.880      0.135    6.532    0.000  0.616  1.144
    speed<->speed     free     0.305      0.083    3.684    0.000  0.143  0.467
          x1<->x1     free     0.556      0.181    3.077    0.002  0.202  0.910
          x2<->x2     free     1.269      0.172    7.370    0.000  0.931  1.606
          x3<->x3     free     0.881      0.131    6.744    0.000  0.625  1.136
          x4<->x4     free     0.446      0.070    6.328    0.000  0.308  0.584
          x5<->x5     free     0.502      0.083    6.019    0.000  0.339  0.666
          x6<->x6     free     0.263      0.058    4.518    0.000  0.149  0.377
          x7<->x7     free     0.849      0.113    7.516    0.000  0.628  1.071
          x8<->x8     free     0.516      0.094    5.469    0.000  0.331  0.701
          x9<->x9     free     0.656      0.118    5.573    0.000  0.426  0.887

  Intercept (reference component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
            x1<-1     free     4.914      0.095   51.569    0.000  4.727  5.101
            x2<-1     free     6.087      0.080   75.899    0.000  5.930  6.245
            x3<-1     free     2.487      0.093   26.780    0.000  2.305  2.669
            x4<-1     free     2.778      0.087   31.915    0.000  2.608  2.949
            x5<-1     free     4.035      0.103   39.171    0.000  3.833  4.237
            x6<-1     free     1.926      0.075   25.776    0.000  1.779  2.072
            x7<-1     free     4.432      0.087   51.183    0.000  4.263  4.602
            x8<-1     free     5.569      0.074   75.578    0.000  5.425  5.714
            x9<-1     free     5.409      0.070   77.099    0.000  5.272  5.547

Coefficient Test (Group = "Grant-White", Std.Error = "sandwich")
  Factor Loading (increment component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
       x1<-visual    fixed     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
       x2<-visual      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
       x3<-visual      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
      x4<-textual    fixed     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
      x5<-textual      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
      x6<-textual      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
        x7<-speed    fixed     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
        x8<-speed      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
        x9<-speed      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  

  Covariance (increment component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
 textual<->visual     free     0.020      0.144    0.136    0.892 -0.263  0.303
   speed<->visual     free     0.144      0.105    1.363    0.173 -0.063  0.351
  speed<->textual     free     0.050      0.108    0.461    0.645 -0.163  0.263

  Variance (increment component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
  visual<->visual     free    -0.085      0.198   -0.427    0.669 -0.473  0.304
textual<->textual     free    -0.011      0.167   -0.063    0.950 -0.337  0.316
    speed<->speed     free     0.170      0.094    1.801    0.072 -0.015  0.355
          x1<->x1     free     0.094      0.178    0.530    0.596 -0.254  0.442
          x2<->x2     free    -0.329      0.221   -1.490    0.136 -0.761  0.104
          x3<->x3     free    -0.277      0.138   -2.000    0.045 -0.548 -0.006
          x4<->x4     free    -0.103      0.094   -1.101    0.271 -0.286  0.080
          x5<->x5     free    -0.126      0.103   -1.220    0.223 -0.327  0.076
          x6<->x6     free     0.174      0.093    1.874    0.061 -0.008  0.356
          x7<->x7     free    -0.250      0.133   -1.886    0.059 -0.510  0.010
          x8<->x8     free    -0.109      0.142   -0.769    0.442 -0.387  0.169
          x9<->x9     free    -0.126      0.142   -0.884    0.377 -0.404  0.153

  Intercept (increment component)
                      type  estimate  std.error  z-value  P(>|z|)  lower  upper
        visual<-1     free     0.050      0.132    0.377    0.706 -0.209  0.309
       textual<-1     free     0.576      0.120    4.789    0.000  0.340  0.812
         speed<-1     free    -0.072      0.089   -0.807    0.419 -0.245  0.102
            x1<-1      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
            x2<-1      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
            x3<-1      pen    -0.531      0.117   -4.520    0.000 -0.761 -0.301
            x4<-1      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
            x5<-1      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
            x6<-1      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
            x7<-1      pen    -0.440      0.108   -4.065    0.000 -0.652 -0.228
            x8<-1      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  
            x9<-1      pen     0.000        -        -        -      -      -  

In this example, we can see that all of the loadings are invariant across the two groups. However, the intercepts of x3 and x7 seem to be not invariant. The $summarize() method also shows the result of significance tests for the coefficients. In lslx, the default standard errors are calculated based on sandwich formula whenever raw data is available. It is generally valid even when the model is misspecified and the data is not normal. However, it may not be valid after selecting an optimal penalty level.

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.