Evaluates the similarity of six statistical association measures in information retrieval by comparing the relationship and behavior they demonstrate in analyses of a test corpus. Highlights include comparisons of ranked term pairs and term clusters, multidimensional scaling, and the impact of term frequency on the association values by means of a…

Uncorrectable skew and heteroscedasticity are among the "lemons" of psychological data, yet many important variables naturally exhibit these properties. For scales with a lower and upper bound, a suitable candidate for models is the beta distribution, which is very flexible and models skew quite well. The authors present…

This study was undertaken to compare non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) and factor analysis (FA) as means of assessing dimensionality in relation to item response theory (IRT). FA assesses correlation matrices, while MDS performs an analysis of proximity measures. Seven data sets were generated; each differed from the others with respect to…

The multidimensionality of self-concept and the use of factor analysis in the development of self-concept instruments are supported in multitrait-multimethod analyses of the Sears and Coopersmith instruments. Convergent validity and discriminate validity of subscales in factor analysis and multitrait-multimethod analysis of longitudinal data are…

Determined the extent to which direct judgments of similarity by supervisors and incumbents could provide the same job classification results as a more elaborate job analysis procedure. Results using hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that the global judgments and task-oriented data led to identical…

Multicultural research has traditionally involved normative methodology and definitions of individual differences. To further our understanding of multicultural concerns, the authors urge researchers to broaden the repertoire of methods used in these inquiries. First, the authors highlight the differences among normative, idiographic, and…

Readiness skills of 1,261 kindergarten students were assessed with the use of the Kindergarten Instructional Design System (KIDS). The profile provides assessment in five areas: Motor, Visual, Auditory, Language, and Conceptual. Two statistical techniques were utilized to examine the underlying structure of the measure: factor analysis and…

Six major problems confronting attempts to use nonmetric multidimensional scaling to represent structures underlying similarity data are identified and the author's prospects for over-coming each of these problems are presented. (RC)

Three approaches to the graphic representation of similarity and dissimilarity matrices are compared and contrasted. Specifically, Kruskal's multidimensional scaling, Johnson's hierarchical clustering, and Waern's graphing techniques are employed to depict, in two dimensions, data representing the structure of a set of botanical concepts. Each of…

Procedures for analyzing common item effects on interscale structure were reviewed and a study using smallest space analysis of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) reported. Solutions of three matrices--intercorrelation matrix of the original CPI scales, of reduced scales (with common items removed), and of the number of common…

Examines the similarity between the coordinates which resulted when correlations were used as similarity measures and the factor loadings obtained by factor analyzing the same correlation matrix. Real data, a set of error free data, and some computer generated data containing deliberately introduced sampling error are analyzed. (RC)

A method of two-stage clustering of literature based on citation frequency is applied to 5,065 articles from 57 journals in environmental and civil engineering. Results of related methods of citation analysis (hierarchical graph, clustering of journals, multidimensional scaling) applied to same set of articles are compared. Ten references are…

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were compared in the assessment of the dimensionality of data sets, using sets generated to be one-dimensional or two-dimensional and differing in degree of interdimensional correlation and number of items defining a dimension. (SLD)

The algorithm developed by B. A. Schneider (1980) for analysis of paired comparisons of psychological intervals is replaced by one proposed by R. M. Johnson. Monte Carlo simulations of pairwise dissimilarities and pairwise conjoint effects show that Johnson's algorithm can provide good metric recovery. (SLD)

Ranking and rating methods of making direct judgments of pairwise similarity are compared. Three dimensional configurations of seven objects are derived under both judgment methods across two equivalent groups of 59 university students. Using Cliff's orthogonal rotation method of multidimensional matching, comparisons are made between methods…