Editorial for the special issue on: SUNOVA and SHAPE 2014

Statistical methods, models and applications that assume the existence of not directly observable variables are today extensively used in every research area. This Special Issue, inspired by the Workshop "Statistics with UNObservable Variables and Statistical models for HumAn Perception and Evaluation" (Sunova and Shape 2014), which was held at the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Brescia (Italy) as part of the activities of the DMS StatLab – Statistical Laboratory "Data Methods and Systems" in October 21, 2014, highlights the opportunities offered by some of the most advanced statistical approaches based on unobservable variables.