I. Borg – författare

Multidimensionalscaling(MDS)isatechniquefortheanalysisofsimilarity 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 forasetofcountries.MDSattemptstomodelsuchdataasdistancesamong pointsinageometricspace.Themainreasonfordoingthisisthatonewants 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 mapthedata,themappingfunction,thealgorithmsusedto?ndanoptimal 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 di?erent purposes for which MDS has been used, to various ways of looking at or “interpreting” an MDS representation, or to di?erences in the data required for the particular models. Inthisbook,wegiveafairlycomprehensivepresentationofMDS.Forthe reader with applied interests only, the ?rst six chapters of Part I should be su?cient. They explain the basic notions of ordinary MDS, with an emphasis on how MDS can be helpful in answering substantive questions.

Multidimensionalscaling(MDS)isatechniquefortheanalysisofsimilarity 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 forasetofcountries.MDSattemptstomodelsuchdataasdistancesamong pointsinageometricspace.Themainreasonfordoingthisisthatonewants 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 mapthedata,themappingfunction,thealgorithmsusedto?ndanoptimal 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 di?erent purposes for which MDS has been used, to various ways of looking at or “interpreting” an MDS representation, or to di?erences in the data required for the particular models. Inthisbook,wegiveafairlycomprehensivepresentationofMDS.Forthe reader with applied interests only, the ?rst six chapters of Part I should be su?cient. They explain the basic notions of ordinary MDS, with an emphasis on how MDS can be helpful in answering substantive questions.

Multidimensionalscaling(MDS)isatechniquefortheanalysisofsimilarity 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 forasetofcountries.MDSattemptstomodelsuchdataasdistancesamong pointsinageometricspace.Themainreasonfordoingthisisthatonewants 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 mapthedata,themappingfunction,thealgorithmsusedto?ndanoptimal 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 di?erent purposes for which MDS has been used, to various ways of looking at or “interpreting” an MDS representation, or to di?erences in the data required for the particular models. Inthisbook,wegiveafairlycomprehensivepresentationofMDS.Forthe reader with applied interests only, the ?rst six chapters of Part I should be su?cient. They explain the basic notions of ordinary MDS, with an emphasis on how MDS can be helpful in answering substantive questions.

Multidimensional Similarity Structure Analysis comprises a class of models that represent similarity among entities (for example, variables, items, objects, persons, etc.) in multidimensional space to permit one to grasp more easily the interrelations and patterns present in the data. The book is oriented to both researchers who have little or no previous exposure to data scaling and have no more than a high school background in mathematics and to investigators who would like to extend their analyses in the direction of hypothesis and theory testing or to more intimately understand these analytic procedures. The book is repleted with examples and illustrations of the various techniques drawn largely, but not restrictively, from the social sciences, with a heavy emphasis on the concrete, geometric or spatial aspect of the data representations.

Multidimensional Similarity Structure Analysis comprises a class of models that represent similarity among entities (for example, variables, items, objects, persons, etc.) in multidimensional space to permit one to grasp more easily the interrelations and patterns present in the data. The book is oriented to both researchers who have little or no previous exposure to data scaling and have no more than a high school background in mathematics and to investigators who would like to extend their analyses in the direction of hypothesis and theory testing or to more intimately understand these analytic procedures. The book is repleted with examples and illustrations of the various techniques drawn largely, but not restrictively, from the social sciences, with a heavy emphasis on the concrete, geometric or spatial aspect of the data representations.