Modern Multidimensional Scaling


Book Description

The first edition was released in 1996 and has sold close to 2200 copies. Provides an up-to-date comprehensive treatment of MDS, a statistical technique used to analyze the structure of similarity or dissimilarity data in multidimensional space. The authors have added three chapters and exercise sets. The text is being moved from SSS to SSPP. The book is suitable for courses in statistics for the social or managerial sciences as well as for advanced courses on MDS. All the mathematics required for more advanced topics is developed systematically in the text.




Modern Multidimensional Scaling


Book Description

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a technique for the analysis of similarity or dissimilarity data on a set of objects. Such data may be intercorrelations of test items, ratings of similarity on political candidates, or trade indices for a set of countries. MDS attempts to model such data as distances among points in a geometric space. The main reason for doing this is that one wants a graphical display of the structure of the data, one that is much easier to understand than an array of numbers and, moreover, one that displays the essential information in the data, smoothing out noise. There are numerous varieties of MDS. Some facets for distinguishing among them are the particular type of geometry into which one wants to map the data, the mapping function, the algorithms used to find an optimal data representation, the treatment of statistical error in the models, or the possibility to represent not just one but several similarity matrices at the same time. Other facets relate to the different purposes for which MDS has been used, to various ways of looking at or "interpreting" an MDS representation, or to differences in the data required for the particular models. In this book, we give a fairly comprehensive presentation of MDS. For the reader with applied interests only, the first six chapters of Part I should be sufficient. They explain the basic notions of ordinary MDS, with an emphasis on how MDS can be helpful in answering substantive questions.




Modern Multidimensional Scaling


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of multidimensional scaling (MDS), a statistical technique used to analyze the structure of similarity or dissimilarity data in multidimensional space. There are many examples of such data, including intercorrelations of attitude items, direct ratings of similarity on choice objects, and trade indices for a set of countries. MDS models such data as distances between points in a geometric space of low dimensionality. This makes complex data sets accessible to visual exploration and thus makes it easier to see structure not obvious from the numbers. Other uses of MDS interpret the geometry and, in particular, the distance function as a psychological composition rule. The book may be used as an introduction to MDS for students in many areas, including statistics, psychology, sociology, political science, and marketing. The prerequisite is a two-semester course in statistics for the social or managerial sciences. The volume is also suited for various advanced courses on MDS, either with an emphasis on data analysis or a focus on the psychology of similarity. All the mathematics required for more advanced topics is developed systematically.




Applied Multidimensional Scaling


Book Description

This book introduces MDS as a psychological model and as a data analysis technique for the applied researcher. It also discusses, in detail, how to use two MDS programs, Proxscal (a module of SPSS) and Smacof (an R-package). The book is unique in its orientation on the applied researcher, whose primary interest is in using MDS as a tool to build substantive theories. This is done by emphasizing practical issues (such as evaluating model fit), by presenting ways to enforce theoretical expectations on the MDS solution, and by discussing typical mistakes that MDS users tend to make. The primary audience of this book are psychologists, social scientists, and market researchers. No particular background knowledge is required, beyond a basic knowledge of statistics.




Multidimensional Scaling


Book Description

Outlines a set of techniques that enables a researcher to explore the hidden structure of large databases. These techniques use proximities to find a configuration of points that reflect the structure in the data.




The Wiley Handbook of Psychometric Testing


Book Description

A must-have resource for researchers, practitioners, and advanced students interested or involved in psychometric testing Over the past hundred years, psychometric testing has proved to be a valuable tool for measuring personality, mental ability, attitudes, and much more. The word ‘psychometrics’ can be translated as ‘mental measurement’; however, the implication that psychometrics as a field is confined to psychology is highly misleading. Scientists and practitioners from virtually every conceivable discipline now use and analyze data collected from questionnaires, scales, and tests developed from psychometric principles, and the field is vibrant with new and useful methods and approaches. This handbook brings together contributions from leading psychometricians in a diverse array of fields around the globe. Each provides accessible and practical information about their specialist area in a three-step format covering historical and standard approaches, innovative issues and techniques, and practical guidance on how to apply the methods discussed. Throughout, real-world examples help to illustrate and clarify key aspects of the topics covered. The aim is to fill a gap for information about psychometric testing that is neither too basic nor too technical and specialized, and will enable researchers, practitioners, and graduate students to expand their knowledge and skills in the area. Provides comprehensive coverage of the field of psychometric testing, from designing a test through writing items to constructing and evaluating scales Takes a practical approach, addressing real issues faced by practitioners and researchers Provides basic and accessible mathematical and statistical foundations of all psychometric techniques discussed Provides example software code to help readers implement the analyses discussed




Modern Multivariate Statistical Techniques


Book Description

This is the first book on multivariate analysis to look at large data sets which describes the state of the art in analyzing such data. Material such as database management systems is included that has never appeared in statistics books before.




Geometric Structure of High-Dimensional Data and Dimensionality Reduction


Book Description

"Geometric Structure of High-Dimensional Data and Dimensionality Reduction" adopts data geometry as a framework to address various methods of dimensionality reduction. In addition to the introduction to well-known linear methods, the book moreover stresses the recently developed nonlinear methods and introduces the applications of dimensionality reduction in many areas, such as face recognition, image segmentation, data classification, data visualization, and hyperspectral imagery data analysis. Numerous tables and graphs are included to illustrate the ideas, effects, and shortcomings of the methods. MATLAB code of all dimensionality reduction algorithms is provided to aid the readers with the implementations on computers. The book will be useful for mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and data analysts. It is also a valuable handbook for other practitioners who have a basic background in mathematics, statistics and/or computer algorithms, like internet search engine designers, physicists, geologists, electronic engineers, and economists. Jianzhong Wang is a Professor of Mathematics at Sam Houston State University, U.S.A.




Modern Psychometrics with R


Book Description

This textbook describes the broadening methodology spectrum of psychological measurement in order to meet the statistical needs of a modern psychologist. The way statistics is used, and maybe even perceived, in psychology has drastically changed over the last few years; computationally as well as methodologically. R has taken the field of psychology by storm, to the point that it can now safely be considered the lingua franca for statistical data analysis in psychology. The goal of this book is to give the reader a starting point when analyzing data using a particular method, including advanced versions, and to hopefully motivate him or her to delve deeper into additional literature on the method. Beginning with one of the oldest psychometric model formulations, the true score model, Mair devotes the early chapters to exploring confirmatory factor analysis, modern test theory, and a sequence of multivariate exploratory method. Subsequent chapters present special techniques useful for modern psychological applications including correlation networks, sophisticated parametric clustering techniques, longitudinal measurements on a single participant, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. In addition to using real-life data sets to demonstrate each method, the book also reports each method in three parts-- first describing when and why to apply it, then how to compute the method in R, and finally how to present, visualize, and interpret the results. Requiring a basic knowledge of statistical methods and R software, but written in a casual tone, this text is ideal for graduate students in psychology. Relevant courses include methods of scaling, latent variable modeling, psychometrics for graduate students in Psychology, and multivariate methods in the social sciences.




Modern Statistics for Modern Biology


Book Description