Local independence is the underlying assumption of latent variable models. The observed items are conditionally independent of each other given an individual score on the latent variable(s). This means that the latent variable explains why the observed items are related to another. This can be explained by the following example.
Read more about Local Independence: Example
Famous quotes containing the words local and/or independence:
“The improved American highway system ... isolated the American-in-transit. On his speedway ... he had no contact with the towns which he by-passed. If he stopped for food or gas, he was served no local fare or local fuel, but had one of Howard Johnson’s nationally branded ice cream flavors, and so many gallons of Exxon. This vast ocean of superhighways was nearly as free of culture as the sea traversed by the Mayflower Pilgrims.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“The Indian’s intercourse with Nature is at least such as admits of the greatest independence of each.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)