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A Comparative Study of Association Measures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Carl Erik Särndal
Carl Erik Särndal*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia*
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Abstract

This paper discusses the general problem of measuring the association between an independent nominal-scaled variable X and a dependent variable Y whose scale of measurement may be interval, ordinal or nominal. The theoretical foundations of a wide range of asymmetric association measures are discussed. Some new measures are also suggested. Fifteen of these association measures, some previously suggested, some new, are singled out for a computer-assisted numerical study in which we compute the value actually taken by each measure under a wide variety of conditions. This comparative study provides important insights into the behavior of the measures.

Keywords

Public PolicyTheoretical FoundationStatistical TheoryGeneral ProblemAssociation Measure
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , June 1974 , pp. 165 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © 1974 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported in part by the National Research Council of Canada and in part by the Swedish Council for Social Science Research.

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