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Abstract

Under the heading of "profile analysis" most multivariate statistical textbooks describe the "levels" and the "parallelism" hypotheses, which test group profile differences in elevation and combined scatter/shape, respectively. It is argued that although both tests are very useful tools, they should be incorporated into a strategy allowing for more specific analyses. A detailed profile analysis should be capable of separating the effects of elevation, scatter, and shape on single discriminant functions and contrasts. Procedural steps of such a Multistage Discriminant Analysis are outlined. Emphasis is placed on the geometrical representation of group profile configurations. The procedure is illustrated with an artificial data set.

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Effects of Profile Elevation,Scatter,and Shape on Discriminant Analysis Results

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