Try Analyzing Multivariate Analysis by Lattin, Carroll and Green (Duxbury,
2003).

Doug Carroll.


At 11:57 AM 6/10/2003 +0100, you wrote:
Hi everyone,
I have couple of questions on (hierarchical) cluster analysis and
Multidimensional scaling. As part of my research, I collected data using a
method called 'similarity rating' on a scale of 1 to 9. There are 30
variables (30 concepts from physics to be exact). I want to find out how
people organise these concepts. The software I am using is SPSS 11,
because SPSS is the only one I know how to use and one of the two
statistical packages available in university computers (I think the other
one is SAS). I should add that I am not very familiar with the theoretical
background of these analyses, though trying my best to get as much
information as I can/need. For example, I have been reading a lot lately
on MDS and HCA, but I still do not know what the basic assumptions are for
MDS and HCA. I need to find a good book which explains things
conceptually, with little mathematical notation.
Now my real problem, as I enter the data in SPSS, I use the subjects'
ratings of the pairwise similarities for the 30 concepts. I want to know
which of these is the appropriate statistical analysis for my analysis. I
am confused with the metric/non-metric distinction. My data is non-metric
I think. Can I use HCA with non-metric data? If I can, and if HCA is
appropriate, what is the best method? Ward's? Between-groups linkage? or
within-groups linkage? etc. Since my original data is already a proximity
matrix (or at least I think it is), what HCA is doing seems to be wrong.
It tries to create proximity matrix again. Is this ok? When I run the
analysis as it is, it seem fine, but when I change the syntax so that it
uses the original data matrix in /MATRIX IN ('filename.sav'), a totally
different clustering is produced. Which one is correct? Is there a clearly
written book on multivariate analysis using SPSS?

For MDS, I have similar problem. What are the things I need to do to get a
clear picture of how people organise these 30 concepts. Because stress
value with low dimensions is quite law, I have to increase the number of
dimensions. By the way in SPSS results, there a lot of stress values:
normalized raw stress, Stress-I, Stress-II and S-Stress. Which of these
should I use to interpret my results? Also, what are "Dispersion Accounted
For (D.A.F.)" and "Tucker's Coefficient of Congruence" used for? What is
the difference between Simplex and Torgerson in initial configuration options?

I know this is a lot, but as I mentioned earlier there isn't any book on
multivariate statistics using SPSS as far as I know. Many books on
multivariate statistics explain things to make life more difficult. If you
could help me, I would be very happy.

Thank you very much for your interest and help in advance.

Sincerely,

Ufuk YILDIRIM



###################################################################### # J. Douglas Carroll, Board of Governors Professor of Management and # #Psychology, Rutgers University, Graduate School of Management, # #Marketing Dept., MEC125, 111 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey # #07102-3027. Tel.: (973) 353-5814, Fax: (973) 353-5376. # # Home: 14 Forest Drive, Warren, New Jersey 07059-5802. # # Home Phone: (908) 753-6441 or 753-1620, Home Fax: (908) 757-1086. # # E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] # ######################################################################

Reply via email to