A Comparison of Probabilistic Unfolding Theories for Paired Comparisons Data (1990) (Recent Research in Psychology)

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Synopsis
Some data-analytic methods excel by their sheer elegance. Their basic principles seem to have a particular attraction, based on a intricate combination of simplicity, deliberation, and power. They usually balance on the verge of two disciplines, data-analysis and foundational measurement, or statistics and psychology. To me, unfolding has always been one of them. The theory and the original methodology were created by Clyde Coombs (1912-1988) to describe and analyze preferential choice data. The fundamental assumptions are truly psy­ chological; Unfolding is based on the notion of a single peaked preference function over a psychological similarity space, or, in an alternative but equivalent expression, on the assumption of implicit comparisons with an ideal alternative. Unfolding has proved to be a very constructive data-analytic principle, and a source of inspiration for many theories on choice behavior. Yet the number of applications has not lived up to the acclaim the theory has received among mathematical psychologists. One of the reasons is that it requires far more consistency in human choice behavior than can be expected. Several authors have tried to attenuate these requirements by turning the deterministic unfolding theory into a probabilistic one. Since Coombs first put forth a probabilistic version of his theory, a number of competing proposals have been presented in the literature over the past thirty years. This monograph contains a summary and a comparison of unfolding theories for paired comparisons data, and an evaluation strategy designed to assess the validity of these theories in empirical choice tasks.
Copyright:
1990

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9783642841729
Related ISBNs:
9783540524915
Publisher:
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Psychology, Mathematics and Statistics, Medicine, Sociology
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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