Latent class analysis is a powerful tool for analyzing the structure of relationships among
categorically scored variables. It enables researchers to explore the suitability of combining
two or more categorical variables into typologies or scales. It also provides a method for
testing hypotheses regarding the latent structure among categorical variables.

Applied Latent Class Analysis introduces several innovations in latent class analysis to a
wider audience of researchers. Many of the world's leading innovators in the field of latent
class analysis contributed essays to this volume, each presenting a key innovation to the
basic latent class model and illustrating how it can prove useful in situations typically
encountered in actual research.