Behavioral science researchers routinely use scale scores that sum or average a set of questionnaire items to address their substantive questions. A researcher applying multiple imputation to incomplete questionnaire data can either impute the incomplete items prior to computing scale scores or impute the scale scores directly from other scale…

A variance-to-range ratio variable weighting procedure is proposed. We show how this weighting method is theoretically grounded in the inherent variability found in data exhibiting cluster structure. In addition, a variable selection procedure is proposed to operate in conjunction with the variable weighting technique. The performances of these…

Discusses ipsatizing variables prior to component analysis by subtracting the mean score of each individual from all the scores of that individual, showing technical objections to component analysis of ipsatized variables to be based on erroneous premises. Suggests partialling the mean component as a superior procedure. (SLD)