Multivariate Descriptive Research In the previous lecture, we discussed ways to quantify the relationship between two variables when those variables are continuous. What do we do when one or more of the variables is categorical?

Categorical Variables Fortunately, this situation is much easier to deal with because we can use the same techniques that we’ve discussed already. Let’s consider a situation in which we are interested in how one continuous variable varies as a function of a categorical variable. Example: How does mood vary as a function of sex (male vs. female)?

In this case, we want to know how the average woman’s score compares to that of the average man’s score. level of a categorical variable

ParticipantsMood score Males A4 B3 C4 D3 M = 3.5, SD =.5 Females A5 B4 C5 D4 M = 4.5, SD =.5 First, find the average score for each level of the categorical variable separately. (Also find the SD.) Second, find the difference between the means of each group. This is called a mean difference. (4.5 – 3.5 = 1.0) Third, express this mean difference relative to the SD. This is called a standardized mean difference. 1/.5 = 2 In this example, women score 2 SD higher than the men.

ParticipantsMood score Males A4 B3 C4 D3 M = 3.5, SD =.5 Females A5 B4 C5 D3 M = 4.25, SD =.83 Note: If the SD’s for the two groups are different, you can simply average the two SD’s. Here, the two SD’s are.5 and.83. Averaged, these are ( )/2 =.66. The standardized mean difference is (4.25 – 3.5)/.66 =.75/.66 = 1.13 Thus, on average, women score 1.13 SD’s higher than men on this mood variable.

Cohen’s d If we divide the mean difference by the average SD of the two groups, we obtain a standardized mean difference or Cohen’s d. Pooled standard deviation

Bargraph

Bargraph: More than two categorical variables

Both variables are categorical When two variables are categorical, it is sometimes most useful to express the data as percentages. Example: Let’s assume that depression is a categorical variable, such that some people are depressed and others are not. What is the relationship between biological sex and depression?

Depression status SexNot DepressedDepressedrow total Male Female column total

Depression status SexNot DepressedDepressedrow total Male Female column total In this table, we’ve expressed each cell as a proportion of the total.

Depression status SexNot DepressedDepressedrow total Male Female column total /.64 =.94.06/.36 =.16 Here, we’ve expressed the association with respect to sex. For example, we can see here that 16% of people who are depressed are male. Moreover, 94% of people who are not depressed are male.

Depression status SexNot Depressed Depressedrow total Male /.66 =.09 Female /.34 =.88 column total Here, we’ve expressed the association with respect to depression status. For example, we can see here that 9% of men are depressed and 88% of women are depressed.

Phi It is possible to quantify the association among these variables using a correlation coefficient when the two variables are binary. This statistic is sometimes referred to as phi. (Phi is +.78 in this example)

Variable 1 Variable 201row total 0abn3 1cdn4 Col totaln1n2 Phi = (a*d) – (b*c) / sqrt(n1*n2*n3*n4) Online calculator at: