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vi Contents
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Contents vii
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viii Contents
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Contents ix
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x Contents
16.7 Step 5: Evaluating Reliability with Split Samples: Prediction Goal 454
16.8 Example Analysis of Actual Data 457
16.9 Selecting the Most Valid Model 463
Problems 466
References 480
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Contents xi
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xii Contents
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Contents xiii
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xiv Contents
Index 1037
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Preface
This is the fourth revision of our second-level statistics text, originally published in 1978 and
revised in 1987, 1998, and 2008. As with previous versions, this text is intended primarily
for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals in the health,
social, biological, and behavioral sciences who engage in applied research in their fields. The
text may also provide professional statisticians with some new insights into the application of
advanced statistical techniques to realistic research problems.
We have attempted in this revision to retain the basic structure and flavor of the earlier
editions, while at the same time making changes to keep pace with current analytic practices
and computer usage in applied research. Notable changes in this fifth edition, discussed in
more detail later, include
i. Clarification of content and/or terminology as suggested by reviewers and read-
ers, including revision of variable and subscript notation used for predictor vari-
ables and regression coefficients to provide consistency over different chapters.
ii. Expanded and updated coverage of some content areas (e.g., confounding and
interaction in regression in Chapter 11, selecting the best regression equation in
Chapter 16, sample size determination in Chapter 27).
iii. A new linear regression example that is carried through and expanded upon in
Chapters 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 16.
iv. Some new exercises at the end of selected chapters, including exercises related to
the new example described in item (iii) above.
v. Updated SAS computer output using SAS 9.3 that reflects improvements in out-
put styling.
vi. Two computer appendices on programming procedures for multiple linear regres-
sion models, logistic regression models, Poisson regression models, and mixed
linear models:
a. In-text: SAS
b. Online: SPSS, STATA, and R
In this fifth edition, as in our previous versions, we emphasize the intuitive logic and
assumptions that underlie the techniques covered, the purposes for which these techniques
are designed, the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques, and valid interpretations
xv
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xvi Preface
based on these techniques. Although we describe the statistical calculations required for the
techniques we cover, we rely on computer output to provide the results of such calculations
so the reader can concentrate on how to apply a given technique rather than how to carry
out the calculations. The mathematical formulas that we do present require no more than
simple algebraic manipulations. Proofs are of secondary importance and are generally omit-
ted. Calculus is not explicitly used anywhere in the main text. We introduce matrix notation
to a limited extent in Chapters 25 and 26 because we believe that the use of matrices provides
a more convenient way to understand some of the complicated mathematical aspects of the
analysis of correlated data. We also have continued to include an appendix on matrices for
the interested reader.
This edition, as with the previous editions, is not intended to be a general reference
work dealing with all the statistical techniques available for analyzing data involving several
variables. Instead, we focus on the techniques we consider most essential for use in applied
research. We want the reader to understand the concepts and assumptions involved in these
techniques and how these techniques can be applied in practice, including how computer
packages can help make it easier to perform the analysis of one’s data.
The most notable features of this fifth edition, including the material that has not been
modified from the previous edition, are the following:
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Preface xvii
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xviii Preface
hazards and extended Cox models for survival data.) The computer appendix
will provide a quick and easy reference guide to help the reader avoid having to
spend a lot of time finding information from sometimes confusing help guides in
packages like SAS.
Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge several people who contributed to the development of this text,
including early editions as well as this fifth edition. Drs. Kleinbaum and Kupper continue to
be indebted to John Cassel and Bernard Greenberg, two mentors who have provided us with
inspiration and the professional and administrative guidance that enabled us at the begin-
ning of our careers to gain the broad experience necessary to write this text.
Dr. Kleinbaum also wishes to thank John Boring, former Chair of the Department of
Epidemiology at Emory University, for his strong support and encouragement during the
writing of the third and fourth editions and for his deep commitment to teaching excellence.
Dr. Kleinbaum also wishes to thank Dr. Mitch Klein of Emory’s Department of Epidemiology
for his colleagueship, including thoughtful suggestions on and review of previous editions.
Dr. Kleinbaum also thanks Dr. Viola Vaccarino, Chair of the Department of Epidemiology
at Emory University, for continued support and encouragement of his academic life at the
Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.
Dr. Kupper will forever be indebted to Dr. William Mendenhall, founder and longtime
Chair of the University of Florida Department of Statistics. Dr. Mendenhall gave Dr. Kupper
his start in the field of statistics, and he served as a perfect example of an inspiring teacher
and a caring mentor.
Mr. Nizam wishes to thank Dr. Lance Waller, Chair of the Department of Biostatistics
and Bioinformatics at Emory University, for his strong support and Dr. John Spurrier of the
Department of Statistics at the University of South Carolina for being a wonderful teacher,
advisor, and mentor.
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Preface xix
We thank Julia Labadie for her assistance in preparing SAS computer output for this
edition. We also thank Dr. Keith Muller for his contributions to earlier editions as one of
our coauthors.
We thank our spouses—Edna Kleinbaum, Sandy Martin, Janet Nizam, and Abby
Horowitz—for their encouragement and support during the writing of various revisions.
We thank our reviewers of the fifth edition for their helpful suggestions:
Joseph Glaz, University of Connecticut
Lynn Kuo, University of Connecticut
Robert Paige, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Debaraj Sen, Concordia University
Po Yang, DePaul University
We thank the Cengage Learning Statistics and Mathematics team, especially Molly
Taylor, Senior Product Manager, and Laura Wheel, Senior Content Developer, for guiding
us through the publication process for the fifth edition, as well as Jessica Rasile, Content
Project Manager, and Tania Andrabi, Production Manager.
David G. Kleinbaum
Lawrence L. Kupper
Azhar Nizam
Eli S. Rosenberg
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1
Concepts and Examples
of Research
1.1 Concepts
The purpose of most empirical research is to assess relationships among a set of vari-
ables, which are factors that are distinctly measured on observational units (or subjects).
Multivariable1 techniques are concerned with the statistical analysis of such relationships,
particularly when at least three variables are involved. Regression analysis, our primary focus,
is one type of multivariable technique. Other techniques will also be described in this text.
Choosing an appropriate technique depends on the purpose of the research and on the types
of variables under investigation (a subject discussed in Chapter 2).
Research may be classified broadly into three types: experimental, quasi-experimental, or
observational. Multivariable techniques are applicable to all such types, yet the confidence
one may reasonably have in the results of a study can vary with the research type. In most
types, one variable is usually taken to be a response or dependent variable—that is, a variable
to be predicted from other variables. The other variables are called predictor or independent
variables.
If observational units (subjects) are randomly assigned to levels of important predictors,
the study is usually classified as an experiment. Experiments are the most controlled type of
study; they maximize the investigator’s ability to isolate the observed effect of the predictors
from the distorting effects of other (independent) variables that might also be related to the
response.
1
The term multivariable is preferable to multivariate. Statisticians generally use the term multivariate analysis to
describe a method in which several dependent variables can be considered simultaneously. Researchers in the bio-
medical and health sciences who are not statisticians, however, use this term to describe any statistical technique
involving several variables, even if only one dependent variable is considered at a time. In this text, we prefer to avoid
the confusion by using the term multivariable analysis to denote the latter, more general description.
1
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2 Chapter 1 Concepts and Examples of Research
1.2 Examples
The examples that follow concern real problems from a variety of disciplines and involve
variables to which the methods described in this book can be applied. We shall return to
these examples later when illustrating various methods of multivariable analysis.
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1.2 Examples 3
■ Example 1.2 Study of race and social influence in cooperative problem-solving dyads,
illustrating the use of analysis of variance and analysis of covariance.
James (1973) conducted an experiment on 140 seventh- and eighth-grade males to
investigate the effects of two factors—race of the experimenter (E) and race of the compari-
son norm (N)—on social influence behaviors in three types of dyads: white–white; black–
black; and white–black. Subjects played a game of strategy called Kill the Bull, in which
14 separate decisions must be made for proceeding toward a defined goal on a game board.
In the game, each pair of players (dyad) must reach a consensus on a direction at each deci-
sion step, after which they signal the E, who then rolls a die to determine how far they can
advance along their chosen path of six squares. Photographs of the current champion players
(N) (either two black youths [black norm] or two white youths [white norm]) were placed
above the game board.
Four measures of social influence activity were used as the outcome variables of inter-
est. One of these, called performance output, was a measure of the number of times a given
subject attempted to influence his dyad to move in a particular direction.
The major research question focused on the outcomes for biracial dyads. Previous
research of this type had used only white investigators and implicit white comparison
norms, and the results indicated that the white partner tended to dominate the decision
making. James’s study sought to determine whether such an “interaction disability,” previ-
ously attributed to blacks, would be maintained, removed, or reversed when the comparison
norm, the experimenter, or both were black. One approach to analyzing this problem was to
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4 Chapter 1 Concepts and Examples of Research
■ Example 1.3 Study of the relationship of cultural change to health, illustrating the use
of analysis of variance.
Patrick and others (1974) studied the effects of cultural change on health in the U.S.
Trust Territory island of Ponape. Medical and sociological data were obtained on a sample
of about 2,000 people by means of physical exams and a sociological questionnaire. This
Micronesian island has experienced rapid Westernization and modernization since American
occupation in 1945. The question of primary interest was whether rapid social and cultural
change caused increases in blood pressure and in the incidence of coronary heart disease. A
specific hypothesis guiding the research was that persons with high levels of cultural ambigu-
ity and incongruity and low levels of supportive affiliations with others have high levels of
blood pressure and are at high risk for coronary heart disease.
A preliminary step in the evaluation of this hypothesis involved measuring three vari-
ables: attitude toward modern life; preparation for modern life; and involvement in modern
life. Each of these variables was created by isolating specific questions from a sociological
questionnaire. Then a factor analysis2 determined how best to combine the scores on spe-
cific questions into a single overall score that defined the variable under consideration. Two
cultural incongruity variables were then defined. One involved the discrepancy between
attitude toward modern life and involvement in modern life; the other was defined as the
discrepancy between preparation for modern life and involvement in modern life.
These variables were then analyzed to determine their relationship, if any, to blood pres-
sure and coronary heart disease. Individuals with large positive or negative scores on either
of the two incongruity variables were hypothesized to have high blood pressure and to be at
high risk for coronary heart disease.
One approach to analysis involved categorizing both discrepancy scores into high and
low groups. Then a two-way analysis of variance could be performed using blood pressure
2
Factor analysis was described in Chapter 24 of the second edition of this text, but this topic is not included as a topic
in this (fifth) edition.
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1.3 Concluding Remarks 5
as the outcome variable. We will see later that this problem can also be described as a regres-
sion problem. ■
■ Example 1.4 Study of the association between alcohol consumption frequency and
body-mass index (BMI) in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
The BRFSS is a large and ongoing surveillance project managed by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and conducted by state health departments as
telephone-based interviews, based on random-digit dialing. Its purpose is to “generate infor-
mation about health risk behaviors, clinical preventive practices, and health care access and
use primarily related to chronic diseases and injury”(CDC 2012).
The unpublished example considered here examines the relationship between frequency
of alcohol use in the previous 30 days and the response variable of BMI, a common measure
of body fat defined as (weight in kg)Y(height in m)2. Dozens of studies have demonstrated
cardiovascular benefits of red wine consumption. Yet the relationship between alcohol con-
sumption and BMI, an important risk factor for numerous chronic diseases, is less clear.
An analysis of data from the National Health Interview Survey found a moderate reduction
in BMI associated with increasing drinking frequency, yet an increase in BMI with greater
drinking volume (Breslow and Smothers 2005). These relationships were different for males
and females (an example of interaction; see Chapter 11), who are known to metabolize alco-
hol differently.
This analysis of drinking frequency and BMI considers females who live in the state of
Georgia and who consume nonheavy amounts of alcohol (for the 2010 BRFSS data collec-
tion year). Straight-line regression analysis is used to quantify the same negative association
between drinking frequency and BMI found by others. Multiple regression analysis and analy-
sis of covariance are used to additionally consider the effects of age and other health behaviors
(e.g., sleep quality, exercise, and tobacco use) that are known to be associated with BMI.
This example is unique in that it provides key illustrations of the objectives of regres-
sion techniques for the analysis of public health surveillance data on a health outcome with
numerous determinants. These objectives can differ from those used for the analysis of
data emanating from more controlled health studies (such as randomized controlled clini-
cal trials). In particular, the large sample size associated with the BRFSS provides oppor-
tunities for the detection of statistically significant (and sometimes both unexpected and
meaningful) associations between certain determinants and BMI that might otherwise be
challenging to detect. Such hypothesis-generating regression findings can suggest avenues
for further research. It is important to mention that such surveillance studies limit causal
interpretations of the findings. These and related issues are discussed further in several
chapters that follow.
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6 Chapter 1 Concepts and Examples of Research
References
Breslow, R. A., and Smothers, B. A. 2005. “Drinking Patterns and Body Mass Index in Never Smokers:
National Health Interview Survey, 1997–2001.” American Journal of Epidemiology 161(4):
368–76.
Campbell, D. T., and Stanley, J. C. 1963. Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research.
Chicago: Rand McNally.
CDC Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services. 2012. “Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System: BRFSS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).” http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/
faqs.htm.
Hulka, B. S.; Kupper, L. L.; Cassel, J. C.; and Thompson, S. J. 1971. “A Method for Measuring
Physicians’ Awareness of Patients’ Concerns.” HSMHA Health Reports 86: 741–51.
James, S. A. 1973. “The Effects of the Race of Experimenter and Race of Comparison Norm on Social
Influence in Same Race and Biracial Problem-Solving Dyads.” Ph.D. dissertation, Department
of Clinical Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
Kleinbaum, D. G.; Kupper, L. L.; and Morgenstern, H. 1982. Epidemiologic Research. Belmont, Calif.:
Lifetime Learning Publications.
Patrick, R.; Cassel, J. C.; Tyroler, H. A.; Stanley, L.; and Wild, J. 1974. “The Ponape Study of
Health Effects of Cultural Change.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for
Epidemiologic Research, Berkeley, Calif.
Thompson, S. J. 1972. “The Doctor–Patient Relationship and Outcomes of Pregnancy.” Ph.D.
dissertation, Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
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2
Classification of Variables
and the Choice of Analysis
2.1.1 Gappiness
In the classification scheme we call gappiness, we determine whether gaps exist between
successively observed values of a variable (Figure 2.1). If gaps exist between observations, the
variable is said to be discrete; if no gaps exist, the variable is said to be continuous. To speak
more precisely, a variable is discrete if, between any two potentially observable values, a value
exists that is not possibly observable. A variable is continuous if, between any two potentially
observable values, another potentially observable value exists.
Examples of continuous variables are age, blood pressure, cholesterol level, height, and
weight. Discrete variables are often counts, such as of the numbers of deaths or car accidents.
Additionally, nonnumeric information is often numerically coded in data sources using dis-
crete variables. Examples of this are sex (e.g., 0 if male and 1 if female), group identification
(e.g., 1 if group A and 2 if group B), and state of disease (e.g., 1 if a coronary heart disease
case and 0 if not a coronary heart disease case).
© Cengage Learning
Gaps No gaps
7
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8 Chapter 2 Classification of Variables and the Choice of Analysis
Relative frequency
Relative frequency
© Cengage Learning
(a) Histogram of a continuous variable (b) Line chart of a discrete variable
In analyses of actual data, the sampling frequency distributions for continuous variables
are represented differently from those for discrete variables. Data on a continuous variable
are usually grouped into class intervals, and a relative frequency distribution is determined
by counting the proportion of observations in each interval. Such a distribution is usually
represented by a histogram, as shown in Figure 2.2(a). Data on a discrete variable, on the
other hand, are usually not grouped but are represented instead by a line chart, as shown in
Figure 2.2(b).
Discrete variables can sometimes be treated for analysis purposes as continuous variables.
This is possible when the values of such a variable, even though discrete, are not far apart
and cover a wide range of numbers. In such a case, the possible values, although technically
gappy, show such small gaps between values that a visual representation would approximate
an interval (Figure 2.3).
Furthermore, a line chart, like the one in Figure 2.2(b), representing the frequency dis-
tribution of data on such a variable would probably show few frequencies greater than 1 and
thus would be uninformative. As an example, the variable “social class” is usually measured as
discrete; one measure of social class1 takes on integer values between 11 and 77. When data
on this variable are grouped into classes (e.g., 11–15, 16–20, etc.), the resulting frequency
histogram gives a clearer picture of the characteristics of the variable than a line chart does.
Thus, in this case, treating social class as a continuous variable is sometimes more useful than
treating it as discrete.
Just as it is often useful to treat a discrete variable as continuous, some fundamentally
continuous variables may be grouped into categories and treated as discrete variables in a
given analysis. For example, the variable “age” can be made discrete by grouping its values
into two categories, “young” and “old.” Similarly, “blood pressure” becomes a discrete vari-
able if it is categorized into “low,” “medium,” and “high” groups or into deciles.
FIGURE 2.3 Discrete variable that may be treated as continuous (© Cengage Learning)
1
Hollingshead’s “Two-Factor Index of Social Position,” a description of which can be found in Green (1970).
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2.1 Classification of Variables 9
The decision to categorize a continuous variable into discrete levels is nuanced, requiring
consideration of both pros and cons. On the one hand, a discrete version of a variable might
make the data easier to collect and summarize. This often, in turn, aids in the presentation of
results to colleagues. Yet these advantages must be balanced against the loss of information
that comes with converting a continuous variable into a discrete one. The choice of variable
type often impacts the type of analysis that can ultimately be conducted, and the desire to use
a certain analysis technique may drive decisions about the treatment of variables.
A further consideration concerns when to categorize continuous data. One may catego-
rize a continuous variable either at the time of data collection or at the time of data analysis.
The former choice often allows cheaper, quicker, and/or less precise methodology for data
collection to be employed. Yet this may also introduce human error (e.g., when a clini-
cian is given the extra step of classifying a continuous reading into one of several groups).
Categorization at the time of analysis reduces the likelihood of human error and also allows
for multiple classification schemes to be later considered, since the original continuous data
have not been forfeited.
A related issue is that both continuous and discrete variables can be error-prone. Contin-
uous variables can be measured with error, and discrete variables can be misclassified. When
such error-prone variables are used in regression analyses, incorrect statistical conclusions can
be made (i.e., statistical validity can be compromised). In this textbook, it will be assumed
that variables to be considered are not subject to either measurement error or misclassifica-
tion error. A discussion of rigorous statistical methods for dealing with error-prone variables
in regression analyses is beyond the scope of this textbook, but Gustafson (2004) provides
numerous relevant references to such methods.
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
10 Chapter 2 Classification of Variables and the Choice of Analysis
A variable that can give not only an ordering but also a meaningful measure of the
istance between categories is called an interval variable. To be interval, a variable must be
d
expressed in terms of some standard or well-accepted physical unit of measurement. Height,
weight, blood pressure, and number of deaths all satisfy this requirement, whereas subjective
measures such as perception of pregnancy, personality type, prestige, and social stress do not.
An interval variable that has a scale with a true zero is occasionally designated as a
ratio or ratio-scale variable. An example of a ratio-scale variable is the height of a person.
Temperature is commonly measured in degrees Celsius, an interval scale. Measurement of
temperature in degrees Kelvin is based on a scale that begins at absolute zero and thus is a
ratio variable. An example of a ratio variable common in health studies is the concentration
of a substance (e.g., cholesterol) in the blood.
Ratio-scale variables often involve measurement errors that follow a nonnormal
distribution and are proportional to the size of the measurement. We will see in Chapter 5
that such proportional errors violate an important assumption of linear regression—namely,
equality of error variance for all observations. Hence, the presence of a ratio variable is a
signal to be on guard for a possible violation of this assumption. In Chapter 14 (on regression
diagnostics), we will describe methods for detecting and dealing with this problem.
As with variables in other classification schemes, the same variable may be considered at
one level of measurement in one analysis and at a different level in another analysis. Thus,
“age” may be considered as interval in a regression analysis or, by being grouped into catego-
ries, as nominal in an analysis of variance.
The various levels of mathematical preciseness are cumulative. An ordinal scale possesses
all the properties of a nominal scale plus ordinality. An interval scale is also nominal and
ordinal. The cumulativeness of these levels allows the researcher to drop back one or more lev-
els of measurement in analyzing the data. Thus, an interval variable may be treated as nominal
or ordinal for a particular analysis, and an ordinal variable may be analyzed as nominal.
2
The term independent variable is a historical term meant to evoke the notion that these measured factors may freely
vary from subject to subject, whereas changes in the dependent variable are thought to depend on and be determined by
the values of a subject’s independent variables. This usage of the term independent differs from the statistical concept
of independence. Two variables are statistically independent when the statistical behavior of one variable is completely
unaffected by the statistical behavior of the other variable. When two variables are independent, they are uncorrelated,
although zero correlation does not imply independence. In most regression analysis situations, there are nonzero cor-
relations among the independent (or predictor) variables. Though not ideal terminology, the phrase independent variable
is still commonly used in practice to denote a predictor variable in regression analysis, and we use this standard termi-
nology in this textbook.
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
2.2 Overlapping of Classification Schemes 11
Perception Worry
Perception Desire
Perception Birth
Informational Communication
Affective Communication Satisfaction
6
Social Class
Age Control
Education variables
© Cengage Learning
Parity
affect relationships among other independent variables and/or the dependent variables but
be of no intrinsic interest in a particular study. Such variables may be referred to as control or
nuisance variables or, in some contexts, as covariates or confounders.
For example, in Thompson’s (1972) study of the relationship between patient per-
ception of pregnancy and patient satisfaction with medical care, the perception variables
are independent variables (or regressors), and the satisfaction variable is the dependent
(or response) variable (Figure 2.4).
Usually, the distinction between independent and dependent variables is clear, as it is in
the examples we have given. Nevertheless, a variable considered as dependent for purposes
of evaluating one study objective may be considered as independent for purposes of evaluat-
ing a different objective. For example, in Thompson’s study, in addition to determining the
relationship of perceptions as independent variables to patient satisfaction, the researcher
sought to determine the relationships of social class, age, and education to perceptions
treated as dependent variables.
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
12 Chapter 2 Classification of Variables and the Choice of Analysis
Interval
Different
Co
representations
nti
of variable “age” Ordinal
nuo
us
Nominal Variable “sex”
© Cengage Learning
Dis
cre
te
FIGURE 2.5 Overlap of variable classifications
and not of the variable itself. In reading the diagram, one should consider any variable as
being representable by some point within the triangle. If the point falls below the dashed
line within the triangle, it is classified as discrete; if it falls above that line, it is continuous.
Also, a point that falls into the area marked “interval” is classified as an interval variable, and
similarly for the other two levels of measurement.
As Figure 2.5 indicates, any nominal variable must be discrete, but a discrete variable
may be nominal, ordinal, or interval. Also, a continuous variable must be either ordinal
or interval, although ordinal or interval variables may exist that are not continuous. For
example, “sex” is nominal and discrete; “age” may be considered interval and continuous or,
if grouped into categories, nominal and discrete; and “social class,” depending on how it is
measured and on the viewpoint of the researcher, may be considered ordinal and continuous,
ordinal and discrete, or nominal and discrete.
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
2.3 Choice of Analysis 13
Classification of Variables
Multiple Continuous Classically all To describe the extent, direction, and strength of the
linear regres- continuous, but relationship between several independent variables and a
sion analysis in practice any continuous dependent variable
type(s) can be
used
Logistic Dichotomous A mixture of vari- To determine how one or more independent variables are
regression ous types can be related to the probability of the occurrence of one of two
analysis used possible outcomes
Poisson Discrete A mixture of vari- To determine how one or more independent variables
regression ous types can be are related to the rate of occurrence of some outcome
analysis used
*Generally, a control variable is a variable that must be considered before any relationships of interest can be quantified; this is because a
control variable may be related to the variables of primary interest and must be taken into account in studying the relationships among the
primary variables. For example, in describing the relationship between blood pressure and physical activity, we would probably consider “age”
and “sex” as control variables because they are related to blood pressure and physical activity and, unless taken into account, could confound
any conclusions regarding the primary relationship of interest.
© Cengage Learning
It considers the types of variable sets usually associated with each method and gives a gen-
eral description of the purposes of each method. In addition to using the table, however,
one must carefully check the statistical assumptions being made. These assumptions will be
described fully later in the text. Table 2.2 shows how these guidelines can be applied to the
examples given in Chapter 1.
Several methods for dealing with multivariable problems are not included in Table 2.1
or in this text—among them, nonparametric methods of analysis of variance, multivariate
multiple regression, and multivariate analysis of variance (which are extensions of the cor-
responding methods given here that allow for several dependent variables), as well as methods
of cluster analysis. In this book, we will cover only the multivariable techniques used most
often by health and social researchers.
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
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Language: English
BY
NEW YORK
BLOCH PUBLISHING CO., Inc.
“THE JEWISH BOOK CONCERN”
1925
Copyright, 1925, by
Lee J. Levinger
CHAPTER PAGE
1.
The prevailing view of students of society seems now to be that
society is a natural phenomenon on the mental plane. Human
society is not now regarded, as by Buckle, as a reflection of
environment, even though the importance of physical background
and racial constitution must be recognized. As Charles A. Ellwood
4
says, “Society is a group of psychically interacting individuals.” “The
5
essential element in the social process is the psychical element.”
That is to say, mental material—instincts, emotions, feeling, and
ideas—are the plane on which groups of individuals combine into
social structures, operate in social functions, develop to social
progress. Relations between individuals (except for the limited
biological function) are mental relations, carried on through physical
media such as postures, speech and writing.
These mental interactions of human beings are not an artificial
construct from primitive egoism by the social contract or any other
method. William MacDougall is almost alone in holding that the
social sentiments are derived from the self-regarding ones through
the operation of the tender emotion and the parental instinct.
6
Hobhouse says: “The conception of a primitive egoism on which
sociality is somehow overlaid is without foundation in either biology
or psychology.” John Dewey puts this view most forcibly:
7
The fact is that the life, the experience, of the individual man, is
already saturated, thoroughly interpenetrated, with social inheritance
and references.... Education, language, and other means of
communication are infinitely more important categories of knowledge
than any of those exploited by absolutists. And as soon as the
methodological battle of instrumentalism is won ... the two services
that will stand to the credit of instrumentalism will be calling attention
first to the connection of intelligence with a genuine future, and
second, to the social constitution of personal, even of private
experience, above all of any experience that has assumed the
knowledge form.
And Ellwood adds—expressing here the general opinion of both
sociologists and modern social philosophers—“All human
consciousness is socially conditioned.... This is as true of the racially
inherited aspects of consciousness—the feeling-instincts—as it is of
the acquired traits.” Man is a social animal and his sociality is one of
the few unescapable things about him. He is born in some kind of a
social group; he gets the most of his ideas from his association with
others; his whole development is a give-and-take in which the take
is from the first, and often remains, the greater element.
But the recognition of this fact does not bind us to any one
explanation of it. We do not need to accept the “consciousness of
kind” of Giddings, the “herd instinct” of Trotter, or the “imitation” of
Tarde,—in fact, we may very well consider that there is no one
principle to explain so universal and complex a phenomenon; that
these terms and others like them are in no sense explanations, but
merely different words for the same fact, that man is a naturally
gregarious or social being. We may rather turn to the more
generalized modes of expressing this conception, the group mind or
general will, as developed by Durkheim, Wundt and in our day by
Baldwin, MacDougall, and others.
2.
Before attacking this problem directly, I must clear away several
misconceptions of the “group mind,” which I cannot accept as a part
of this theory. First, this thesis need not exclude the operation of
physical and biological forces on social groups, any more than it
excludes their operation on any individual, who is also a
psychological unit. Society may well be a unit, just as the individual
is, in a world of varying forces—climate, birth rates, and the like.
Second, a theory of group mind may be empirical, and need not
necessarily rest on an idealistic conception of the Volksgeist. By
adopting the historical method, rather than the statistical, relying on
values to indicate our problem rather than trying to express it in
terms of natural science, we shall find ourselves treating the theory
of the group in a realistic and empirical way, eschewing the
dogmatism of applying a priori principles to human material, and the
equal fallacy of considering minds in the same terms as chemical
8
elements.
Third, a modern social psychology need not be a literal
transcription of Durkheim or Wundt, relying on an antiquated
psychology for its analogies and its basic conceptions. A theory of
group mind today must recognize that personality is not always a
unity, that it is never a complete unity; the vast field of the
unconscious in mental life has just been opened to view. Both of
these conceptions apply to the mental life of men in great masses as
truly as when alone. Neither the individual nor the group is
something hard, fixed and static; neither can be summed up as a
group of faculties or a system of ideas. Both individual and group
9
must be conceived in process, to take the words of Lindemann, as
“the total equipment with which man responds to his environment,
all that enters into behavior from the side of human nature.”
Some views of group mind are vitiated for our present purpose by
the narrow limits they impose, or by the one-sided way in which
they arrive at their definitions. This applies especially to those who
use the mob as the typical group and consider “crowd-mindedness”
(to use Everett Dean Martin’s term) as a synonym of sociality. The
crowd, the herd, the mob are various terms for an exceptional type
of group of human beings, bound together by physical presence,
transformed by a powerful emotion, launched finally into unified and
10
often violent action. But as Baldwin says: “The mind of the crowd
is essentially a temporary, unorganized, ineffective thing.... The mob
is a by-product of society, it is the exaggeration of the normal.”
Finally, the group mind need not be expressed entirely in terms of
instinctive adaptation, any more than the mind of the individual;
either may have many types, may be instinctive or impulsive or
rational, may have a growing sense of rationality and a growing
power of independent, deliberate action. In opposition to
MacDougall, with his elaborate system of instincts and sentiments,
we may place the vast majority of students of the problem, Cooley,
Platt, Ellwood, Baldwin, and so on. Even when the members of a
group all use reason to a very high degree, they still constitute a
group if they have organization and some method of reaching a
general decision, as in a congress, a national association of
scientists, or a business corporation.
Obviously, human beings form many kinds of groups, and there
would then, on an empirical basis, be many varieties of group minds.
Individuals fall into many classes, as we all know, primitive and
cultured, ignorant and educated, the infant, the child and the adult,
the moron and the genius. So with the group. There are large and
small groups, from families to nations; temporary and permanent
ones, from the theatre audience to the church; simple and complex,
from town meeting to a Federal union, comprising states, counties,
cities and townships; unorganized and organized; groups founded on
physical presence, like a baseball team, and international bodies of
scientists or philosophers who may form “a school of thought” but
may never hold a meeting. The study of these various types is not
only interesting in itself; it may help us in formulating the principle
of the mind of the group as a whole. To begin with the definition of
the primitive group by Franz Boaz:
11
There are a number of primitive hordes to whom every stranger
not a member of the horde is an enemy, and where it is right to
damage the enemy to the best of one’s power and ability, and if
possible to kill him. This custom is based largely on the idea of the
solidarity of the horde, and on the feeling that it is the duty of every
member of the horde to destroy all possible enemies.... The feeling of
the fellowship in the horde corresponds to the feeling of unity in the
tribe, to a recognition of bonds established by a neighborhood of
habitat, and further on to the feeling of fellowship among members of
nations.
12
“He who is not with me is against me,” said Jesus for the religious
group. How far we have proceeded from the horde in our civilized
nations, and how near we are to it still in the essential character of
the mind of the group!
3.
Does the group mind exist? Not as a super-consciousness,
external to the individuals composing it—that view has been
discarded long ago. But as a category which is needed to explain
many phenomena, and which we can then proceed to study and
explain in greater detail, a term with pragmatic value, such as “life”
or “mind.” “Life” is no longer used as a principle of explanation, as a
vital principle which is infused into dead matter, but life exists, for all
that, and we can see its effects and study them. “Mind” is not
something separate and distinct from the body in which it dwells or
from the world in which it acts, but we know that mind is a useful
and necessary category in which to include a whole phase of living
being, especially of human life. “Group Mind” is the same sort of
category as these. Just as mind inheres in the neurones and is
coincident with the chemical changes in them, and yet cannot be
summed up by chemical changes; so group mind inheres in the
brains, of individuals and is coincident with individual ideas and acts,
yet cannot be summed up as so many individual responses but as
the unified response of a group of persons at once.
Morris Ginsberg, in his Psychology of Society, opposes any type of
group theory, as he sees only individuals in a social environment; he
holds that the group may have unity of content but not of process,
of ideas and ideals but not of mind. Floyd H. Allport speaks of “The
13
group fallacy,” “the error of substituting the group as a whole as a
principle of explanation in place of the individuals in the group,” to
14
which Emory S. Bogardus replies in his discussion that “if there is
a group fallacy, there is also an individual fallacy.”
On the other hand, so radical a behaviorist as E. C. Lindeman
15
remarks, “The group is a plurality of individuals, but what the
16
group does is not plural but singular.” “From the purely descriptive
point of view, the group becomes a new quality.” Dr. M. M. Davis
17
puts it this way: “Millions of brain cells are co-ordinated to think as
one brain. Psychology tries to tell how. Millions of brains co-ordinate
themselves and function in many ways as one brain. The how of that
marvel is for sociology.” Giddings calls the group mind “the concert
of thought, emotion and will” of individual minds. Cooley says:
18
“The unity of the social mind consists not in agreement but in
organization.” Ellwood phrases it somewhat differently:
19
The only unity we have in society is a unity of process. The
individual consciousness is unified both structurally and functionally....
There is a collective mental life, but no social mind in the same sense
in which there is an individual mind.
Dr. Baldwin sums up his view in the last sentences of the Social
and Ethical Interpretations:
20
Society is the form of natural organization which ethical
personalities come into in their growth. Ethical personality is the form
of natural development which individuals grow into who live in social
relationships. The true analogy, then, is not that which likens it to a
physiological organism, but rather that which likens it to a
psychological organization.
And so, if this were primarily a historical study, I might go over
many similar and differing theories, which consider the group as a
unity on the mental plane, that is, in one sense or another, as a
group mind.
The material is still being collected for this study, the essential
points of view still being defined, and such important factors as
instinct and intelligence are still being redefined with the rapid
progress of science today. As several of the terms cited above
suggest, the difference between the individual as a mind and the
group of individuals as a mind is always given and must always be
given in terms of structure. In the words of Lindeman:
21
The individual may be viewed as an integration of functioning
organs, and the group merely an integration of functions.... There can
be nothing organic about society or a group; there can be only a
series of relations, the results of specific responses to specific
situations.
Not to cite more opinions on a point on which there seems general
agreement, we may take it for granted that the chief, perhaps the
only difference historically pointed out between the mind of one man
and of a group of men is that the man has a brain and a nervous
system, while the group has neither, but operates apparently
through the brains and nervous systems of its members. But in their
functioning, in their activities, the mind of the man and of the nation
or other group are so similar as to be almost indistinguishable.
Of course, this distinction depends, finally, on the definition of
mind which we are prepared to accept. Dennes gives an adequate
summary and criticism of Durkheim, for instance, who considered
collective mind to consist of the collective ideas or representations of
a society; and of Wundt, who considered mind an integration of
processes, not of ideas, and therefore sought for the group mind in
the collective results of group mental process, in speech, religion
and custom. But Dennes himself seems confused by the need of
defining mind without regard to bodily structure. He says:
22
“Individual minds or persons have or produce bodies as well as
objective mental products. But social groups are not minds and have
no bodies. They are associations of minds.” MacDougall defines mind
23
as “An organized system of mental or purposive forces,” and
continues, “In the sense so defined, every highly organized human
society may be properly said to possess a group mind.” While
MacDougall’s definition seems circular in nature, it still recognizes
that a functional definition of mind can make no distinction of
structure, whether any particular mind is associated with one or
24
many bodies. Lindeman calls mind “the total equipment with
which man responds to his environment”, which seems more than
one can accept, for “total equipment” would include hands and feet,
as well as mind. A more precise statement of the same general tenor
appears in Dr. Singer’s Mind as Behavior:
25
Consciousness is not something inferred from behavior; it is
behavior. Or, more accurately, our belief in consciousness is an
expectation of probable behavior based on an observation of actual
behavior, a belief to be confirmed or refuted by more observation, as
any other belief in a fact is to be tried out.
Thus, any functional definition of mind that has no reference to brain
or nervous system, must apply and does apply in the group of
persons in exactly the same sense as to the single individual. If
there is “unified behavior,” if there is “organized system of purposes,”
if there is “response to environment,” then we have mind, whether
the behavior, response, or purpose dwell in one or two or many
bodies.
One question remains, and a most perplexing one. How can one
distinguish between a group mind and a group purpose, or the
accidental coincidence of many minds and many purposes? A flock
of migrating birds has no group mind—each bird would travel south
at the same time and the same rate of speed, were there no flock at
all. Or still lower forms, such as unicellular organisms, may move
simultaneously to warmer waters. On the other extreme, the hordes
of Huns led by Attila had a group purpose in their migration; the
leader gave the word, and the followers leaped together to their
horses’ backs to ride from Asia into Europe. But when a half million
negroes migrate from the southern to the northern states in a few
years, coming family by family, as the opportunity affords, yet with a
steady tendency of drift, is that a group mind or the accidental
agreement of many individuals? Is it mind or minds? And the same
problem is present in a declaration of war, or the victory of a foot-
ball team, or the adoption of a new fashion of clothes. When does
the group act and when the individual members? When do we have
the mind of all, when the mind of each?
To this crucial problem I must present one qualification and one
answer. The qualification is: the group never acts except through its
constituent individuals, any more than the mind acts without its
brain cells and bodily organs. The difference between the act of all
and the act of each is not a complete disjunction but a difference of
emphasis, of interpretation, of purpose. When the army marches,
every soldier goes ahead; when the nation elects its president, the
millions of voters cast their ballots; when the church adopts a creed
or reforms its ritual, the many believers experience a change in their
faith and their hope. Not that group opinion need be unanimous; it
is rather a mode of general consent by which unified action can arise
out of conflicting opinions, by which many individuals are absorbed
into a group mind. Thus in many, perhaps in most cases we cannot
say definitely: this is group mind, not personal preference, or this is
individual action, and the group has nothing to do with it. The
problem is much like that which faced Kant in defining moral action,
when the demands of the universal law may often coincide with
personal preference, perhaps even with the greatest and most
appealing happiness.
And our answer may be similar to his. Kant turned to the test
case. We know we have morality, said he, when duty and pleasure
are opposed, and the man obeys the voice of duty. Similarly, we can
say: we know that we have group mind and purpose when the
pleasure of the individual is opposed to the will of the group, and the
individual gives up his purpose for that of the army, the nation, the
church. When the soldier or the martyr gives up his urge for self-
preservation and offers his body to the bullets of the enemy or the
stake of the persecutor, then we know that he has abdicated his
individuality and is acting only as a member of the greater whole.
Lindeman, whose study is based on observation of farmers’ co-
operative societies, presents a contrary view:
26
It was formerly asserted that the chief significance of a group
consisted in the fact that the individuals comprising it had sacrificed
certain individual prerogatives, rights, privileges, etc., in order to
achieve the larger collective end. But it could not be discovered that
the farmers who became members of the co-operative associations
had done anything of the sort. On the contrary, they were chiefly
interested in enhancing their own individual interests; they desired a
larger income from the sale of their products and the co-operative
movement promised exactly this.
If this were true, these associations would constitute merely a set of
books, not a group of persons. But we see further on in the same
book that the co-operative associations demanded loyalty even at
the cost of whim or momentary interest; they enforced their
contracts with the farmer by which he agreed to sell only through
the association. If he got tired of waiting for his money, or if a dealer
placed a financial premium on disloyalty, still he was expected to be
loyal to the group. Finally, the group had to take cognizance of other
aspects of the human life of its members besides the sale of their
cotton or tobacco; it built up personal and social groupings for the
entire family; it became a truly unified group mind, through the slow
process of integration of individuals and of local groups, resting on a
basis of personal friendship. Thus, even in an interest group, a true
group mind is developed through participation and sacrifice.
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