Describes the use of multidimensional scaling (MDS), emphasizing applications in counseling and vocational psychology. Includes an example of one standard nonmetric scaling method. Addresses conceptual and practical considerations associated with the use of MDS. (Author/KS)

This study determined through psychophysical comparison of scaling data that speech naturalness judgments of stutterers and nonstutterers from audiovisual recordings form a metathetic (or qualitative) rather than prothetic (or quantitative) continuum. Both direct magnitude estimation and equal-appearing interval scaling were valid, but interval…

A new method to estimate the parameters of Tucker's three mode principal component model is discussed, and the convergence properties of the alternating least squares algorithm to solve the estimation problem are considered. An example is presented. (Author/JKS)

Ideal point discriminant analysis (IPDA) is proposed for the analysis of contingency tables of cross-classified data. Several data sets illustrate IPDA, which combines log-linear and dual scaling models to provide a spatial representation of row and column categories and allow statistical evaluation of various structural hypotheses about…

The Guttman model of scale analysis has found continued use in sociological analysis despite criticisms placed against it. An empirical example is provided of the use of factor analysis with Guttman scaling even taking into account the criticisms of both very restricted item number of dichotomous responses. Data came from a questionnaire using…

This special issues describes multidimensional scaling (MDS), with emphasis on proximity and preference models. An introduction and six papers review statistical developments in MDS study design and scrutinize MDS research in four areas of application (consumer, social, cognitive, and vocational psychology). (SLD)