At 09:45 AM 5/18/00 +0200, Hassane ABIDI wrote:



>When the IDV variable (X) is random is it correct to use simple linear
>regression ????? It is very important question in it's general context,
>that you have not really responded.

in what way would it make sense to say that X is random (and what do you 
mean by this?) and Y is fixed (and what do you mean by this?)?

all regression analysis does (in the linear case) is to find a least 
squares line (and the equation for it) through the data plot ... that 
minimizes squared deviations around the regression line ...

now, if one were doing an analysis of experimental data ... where X is a 
treatment variable ... that has dosage levels of 3, 6, and 9 miligrams ... 
you might (???)  consider that fixed in that these are the ONLY levels of 
the treatment you are interested in ... so you could plot the means on some 
criterion variable against these 3 dosage levels ... here X might be 
'fixed' and Y not ...

i don't really see how you can fix Y ... if that is the criterion ... ONLY 
in the sense that you might have a measure that ONLY gives you 'fixed' 
possible values .... but, that is a stretch ...

in what sense would height and weight be fixed or not fixed if we did a 
regression using height to estimate or predict weight, or vice versa? 
notion of 'fixed' really makes no sense here ... and regression does not care

but, my point to the original poster was simple:

make a plot of the data ... see what you see ... and go from there

this is not about using pearson or spearman, it is about seeing if the data 
look linear ... and IF they do ... then summarize it via a regression 
equation ... this will give the means to 'link' X to Y ... proxy to true

if they don't ... you have to think about a different strategy

>|=======================================================|
>| Hassane ABIDI (PhD)                                   |
>| Unite d'Epidemiologie; Centre Hospitalier Lyon-Sud    |
>| Pavillon 1.M, 69495 Pierre Benite Cedex, France       |
>| Tel:  (33) 04 78 86 56 87 ;  Fax: (33) 04 78 86 33 31 |
>| E. mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]              |
>|=======================================================|

Dennis Roberts, EdPsy, Penn State University
208 Cedar Bldg., University Park PA 16802
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED], AC 814-863-2401, FAX 814-863-1002
WWW: http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm
FRAMES: http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drframe.htm



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