Abstract
Latent distance analysis proposed by Lazarsfeld (1968) is discussed and the method of the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) of the latent parameters is studied. For this problem, it is well-known that the ordinary algorithm of MLE gives frequently improper solutions. In the present paper, an algorithm is proposed, which does not give any improper solution, after transforming the latent response parameters to the logistic form and applying the new MLE procedure. The algorithm depends on the EM algorithm. The actual data analysis is also given.
