This paper discusses the principles underlying discriminant analysis and constructs a simulated data set to illustrate its methods. Discriminant analysis is a multivariate technique for identifying the best combination of variables to maximally discriminate between groups. Discriminant functions are established on existing groups and used to…

The Index of Personality Characteristics (IPC) and the Social Reasoning subtest of the British Ability Scales were administered to 36 students with behavior disorders (BD) and 37 nonexceptional students in grades 3-7. Results indicated that the IPC composite score in combination with the Social Reasoning subtest accurately predicted BD…

"Outlier studies" identify items for which extreme differences in performance by contrasting groups occur; these extreme items are the "outliers" referred to. Review of the studies conducted on tests receiving major use in higher education reveals that though one cannot make a priori classifications of outliers with confidence,…