Back to selection
80497-01 - Seminar: Latent Class Analysis with Open-Source Software in R (1 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Angela Leipold (angela.leipold@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This workshop will be held by Dr. Caspar Van Lissa (Tilburg University). Are there meaningful subgroups in your data that conventional analyses miss? Latent class analysis (LCA) can identify subgroups in your data that differ qualitatively in their response patterns. You may know it by other names, such as mixture modeling, latent class growth analysis, or hidden Markov modeling. Relevance: This workshop is designed for PhD students who want to use person-centered methods to answer substantive research questions about unobserved groups. For example, you can explore whether your population is homogeneous or heterogeneous; test theories about categorical latent variables, like identity status theory or developmental stage theory; estimate people's unknown group member-ship - like whether they are at risk for a clinical disorder, are in a filter bubble, or have become radical-ized. Group membership can be based on simple descriptive statistics (e.g., means on questionnaire items), or on more complex models (e.g., developmental trajectory over time). Requirements: The workshop is suitable for a wide range of experience levels: complete beginners in R, researchers who already use R but are new to LCA, and advanced users who want to transition to open-source software or discuss current best practices. Content: On Day 1, you will learn the core ideas behind LCA and get hands-on experience with user-friendly R functions for estimating latent class models with continuous, ordinal, and dichotomous indicators, and combinations of these. We will focus on the practical decisions researchers face: evaluating model fit, assessing classification accuracy, interpreting model parameters, and reporting results clearly with publication-ready tables and figures. On Day 2, several advanced topics are introduced, and students choose two to focus on: 1. Confirmatory LCA: testing hypotheses about the number of classes 2. Auxiliary variables: examining differences between classes on external variables 3. Latent class growth analysis 4. Custom model specification for LCA Practicalities: You will need to complete a setup tutorial before the workshop, so we spend our time together pro-ductively. All exercises are supported by tutorial vignettes and fully reproducible R code that you can adapt to your own research. You are encouraged to bring your own data, so you can directly apply what you learn to your dissertation or ongoing projects. Exercises are completed in pairs, creating space for discussion, feedback, and shared problem-solving. |
| Comments | The workshop is offered by the Graduate School of Psychology. Maximum number of participants: 12. Selection criteria: 1. PhD students from the SC-PSY PhD program 2. Master Science Tracker (StO 15) resp. Science Tracker Society and Choice (StO24) 3. Currently a PhD candidate in psychology 4. First come - first served GSP rules for withdrawal, absence, or partial course attendance: If you cannot attend a workshop that you have signed up for, please cancel your course registration as soon as possible by sending an e-mail to angela.leipold@unibas.ch. This will allow other PhD stu-dents interested in the course to move up from the waiting list. The GSP strongly values fairness. Af-ter the university’s official registration period has ended, cancelled course will be assessed with NE. Course registrations can be cancelled until one week before the workshops begins. In the case of late cancellations, participants will not be considered for course registration in the next three months of the lecture periods and will be removed from the registration list of any course they have signed up during these three upcoming months of the lecture periods. If an urgent, unforeseeable, or inevitable event before or during the workshop prevents a participant from attending, a written and substantiated withdrawal request that includes appropriate documenta-tion (e.g. a doctor’s note) must be submitted to angela.leipold@unibas.ch within two days of the work-shop and without being prompted. The program director decides on the approval of the withdrawal request. ECTS-points are awarded only for 100% course attendance. |
| Admission requirements | Doktorat im Bereich Psychologie. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| unregelmässig | See individual dates | ||
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 17.09.2026 | 14.00-18.00 | Missionsstrasse 64a, Seminarraum 00.004 |
| Friday 18.09.2026 | 09.00-13.00 | Missionsstrasse 64a, Seminarraum 00.004 |
| Modules |
Doctorate Psychology: Recommendations (PhD subject: Psychology) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Preparation and follow-up of the contents of the workshop as well as active participation. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration, dereg: cancel course registration |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Psychology, studiendekanat-psychologie@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Faculty of Psychology |