Michael Sobel, University of Arizona
Some Log-Linear and Log-Nonlinear Models for Ordinal Scales with Midpoints,
with an Application to Public Opinion on the Environment
Friday, May 2 at 12:30pm in Smith 120
Ordinal responses with a middle category are widely used in public
opinion studies, psychology, medicine, computed tomography and other fields.
The usual models in the statistical literature for ordinal response
variables treat the case where the scale has a natural middle category no
differently from the case where the scale does not have a middle category.
I propose new models for the analysis of ordinal response scales with
middle categories, applying these to data collected in 1993-1994 on American
opinion toward the balance between environmental quality and economic
prosperity. Some of the models should also be useful when the scale does not
have a natural middle category.
The models are easily used to address issues of concern in empirical work,
for example, stochastic ordering among covariate classes and asymmetry about the
middle category.