Toward Power Analysis for Partial Least Squares-Based Methods

In recent years, power analysis has become widely used in applied sciences, with the increasing importance of the replicability issue. When distribution-free methods, such as partial least squares (PLS)-based approaches, are considered, formulating power analysis is challenging. In this study, we introduce the methodological framework of a new procedure for performing power analysis when PLS-based methods are used. Data are simulated by the Monte Carlo method, assuming the null hypothesis of no effect is false and exploiting the latent structure estimated by PLS in the pilot data. In this way, the complex correlation data structure is explicitly considered in power analysis and sample size estimation. The paper offers insights into selecting test statistics for the power analysis procedure, comparing accuracy-based tests and those based on continuous parameters estimated by PLS. Simulated and real data sets are investigated to show how the method works in practice.