On 27 Feb 2002 11:59:53 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brad Anderson) wrote: > I have a continuous response variable that ranges from 0 to 750. I > only have 90 observations and 26 are at the lower limit of 0, which is > the modal category. The mean is about 60 and the median is 3; the > distribution is highly skewed, extremely kurtotic, etc. Obviously, > none of the power transformations are especially useful. The product
I guess it is 'continuous' except for having 26 ties at 0. I have to wonder how that set of scores arose, and also, what should a person guess about the *error* associated with those: Are the numbers near 750 measured with as much accuracy as the numbers near 3? How do zero scores arise? Is this truncation; the limit of practical measurement; or just what? "Extremely kurtotic," you say. That huge lump at 0 and skew is not consistent with what I think of as kurtosis, but I guess I have not paid attention to kurtosis at all, once I know that skewness is extraordinary. Categorizing the values into a few categories labeled, "none, almost none, ...." is one way to convert your scores. If those labels do make sense. -- Rich Ulrich, [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pitt.edu/~wpilib/index.html ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ =================================================================
