Colloquium Speaker:
Dr. Reza Belaghi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Statistics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Uppsala, Sweden
Title: Advancing Discrete Factor Analysis: Models, Methods, and Applications for Ordinal and Count Data
Abstract: Traditional factor analysis techniques often fall short when applied to ordinal and count data, which are common in social sciences, healthcare, and survey-based research. In this talk, I will introduce an innovative framework for Discrete Factor Analysis (DFA) that extends conventional methods by explicitly modeling the underlying count structure and overdispersion using Poisson and Negative Binomial distributions. A major contribution of this work is the development of the discFA R package, enabling efficient estimation and model selection for discrete latent structures—including truncated and zero-inflated settings. Through examples from vaccine hesitancy, psychological measurement, and agriculture, I will demonstrate how DFA offers deeper insights than classical techniques. The talk concludes with ongoing research directions in confirmatory DFA and structural equation modeling.
Day & Time: Thursday, April 17, 2025, at 1:00pm
Location: Lambton Tower, Room 9-118
Counts toward seminar attendance for MSc and PhD students in Math & Stats.