Re: compound variables - kruskall wallis

Posted by Bruce Weaver on Nov 19, 2013; 11:27pm
URL: http://spssx-discussion.165.s1.nabble.com/compound-variables-kruskall-wallis-tp5723154p5723173.html

In addition to what Art has asked for:

1. Please clarify which variable is the explanatory variable and which the outcome (dependent) variable.  (Diana assumed that the variable with 4 ordered frequency of playing categories was the outcome when she suggested PLUM.  But your suggestion of Kruskal-Wallis makes me think you view the "compound variable", as you call it, the outcome.)

2. Please clarify what you mean when you said that only nonparametric tests are possible because the data do not meet "any parametric conditions".  What conditions?  

Comment:  Parametric tests are far more robust than many people realize, and rank-based nonparametric tests (when used to test null hypotheses about location) are far less robust than people realize.  (You can find an article by Gene Glass & colleagues that talks about the 1950s "stampede" to nonparametric methods, and the fact that it was largely unnecessary.)  So I'm quite curious about what you're seeing that invalidates parametric tests.

HTH.

Art Kendall wrote

please explain what you
        mean by a compound variable.
      Is it a summative scale, i.e., a sum or mean of dichotomous or
      other interval level scales, e.g., with a Likert response scale?
      What was the response scale on the variable about frequency?  Who
      wrote it?
      Art Kendall
Social Research Consultants
      On 11/19/2013 10:59 AM, Oscar M [via SPSSX Discussion] wrote:
   
     Wanting to test a compound variable (i.e. combined 6
      variables from a battery
     
      of questions which ask about attitudes to gaming)  against a
      variable about
     
      frequency of playing games (4 categories). Using kruskall wallis
      in SPSS but
     
      not sure it is legitimate to use compound variables in this test?
      Only Non
     
      parametric tests are possible with this data - does not meet any
      parametric
     
      conditions. All help appreciated.
     
     
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