MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING

• NCJ Number: 58958
• Author(s): J B KRUSKAL; M WISH
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 93 pages
• Corporate Author: Sage Publications, Inc
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: SAGE UNIVERSITY PAPERS SERIES ON QUANTITATIVE APPLICATIONS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Annotation

MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING, A CLASS OF MATHEMATICAL TECHNIQUES THAT ENABLE RESEARCHERS TO UNCOVER THE HIDDEN STRUCTURES OF DATA BASES, IS EXPLAINED, AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ARE ILLUSTRATED.

Abstract

THE BOOK IS ONE OF A SERIES ON TECHNIQUES OF DATA ANALYSIS APPLICABLE TO THE SOCIAL SCIENCES. THE BOOKS ARE DESIGNED FOR READERS WITH A LIMITED BACKGROUND IN STATISTICS AND MATHEMATICS. IN ESSENCE, MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING IS A METHOD OF PRODUCING A MAP FROM A TABLE OF DISTANCES (AS OPPOSED TO THE SIMPLER TASK OF PRODUCING A TABLE FROM A MAP). MULTIDIMENSIONAL TECHNIQUES USE PROXIMITIES AMONG OBJECTS AS INPUT. (A PROXIMITY IS A NUMBER INDICATING HOW SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT TWO OBJECTS ARE, OR ARE PERCEIVED TO BE, OR ANY COMPARABLE MEASURE.) THE CHIEF OUTPUT IS A SPATIAL REPRESENTATION--A GEOMETRIC CONFIGURATION OF POINTS, AS ON A MAP. EACH POINT CORRESPONDS TO ONE OF THE OBJECTS. THE GREATER THE DISSIMILARITY BETWEEN TWO OBJECTS, THE FURTHER APART THEY WILL BE ON THE MAP. INSIGHTS DERIVED FROM MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING RESULT FROM EXAMINING THE MAP, MOST DIRECTLY BY SIMPLY LOOKING AT THE ARRANGEMENT OF POINTS. MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING HAS BEEN USED BY PSYCHOLOGISTS (E.G., TO UNDERSTAND PERCEPTIONS AND EVALUATIONS OF SOCIAL ENTITIES), SOCIOLOGISTS (E.G., TO DETERMINE THE STRUCTURE OF AN ORGANIZATION AS REVEALED IN MEMBERS' PERCEPTIONS OF ONE ANOTHER AND THEIR PATTERNS OF INTERACTION), BY ANTHROPOLOGISTS (E.G., TO COMPARE CULTURAL GROUPS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR BELIEFS, LANGUAGES, AND ARTIFACTS), BY ECONOMISTS AND MARKETING RESEARCHERS; AND BY EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHERS (E.G., TO STUDY THE STRUCTURE OF INTELLIGENCE, OF TEST BATTERIES, OR OF CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENTS). IN ONE STUDY, MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING WAS USED TO IDENTIFY RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SURVEY RESPONDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF 22 DIFFERENT SOCIETAL PROBLEMS. THE BASIC CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING (INCLUDING HOW TO PREPARE INPUT FOR SCALING HOW TO INTERPRET CONFIGURATIONS) ARE PRESENTED, TOGETHER WITH ILLUSTRATIVE DATA AND A LIST OF REFERENCES, (LKM)