It really made no sense to square the data so I ended
up multiplying by -1. Got a positive skew and took
the log of those data.
Thank you for your help.
DW
--- Donald Burrill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jun 2003, Dianne Worth wrote (referring
> to a Likert variable
> whose values are -7, -6, ..., -1):
>
> > Thank you -- because this is an X (as opposed to
> Y), I assume that
> > it's appropriate to transform by x-squared.
>
> It would be OK; I don't know about "appropriate".
> Notice that you'd
> end up with the same set of values whether you were
> using a "positive"
> item (+1,...,+7) or a "negative" item (-7,...-1).
>
> > However, when I do that, the results simply appear
> to have become
> > positively skewed. Am I missing something? DW
>
> Nope. Only, the degree of skew will be somewhat
> different for the
> squared values (1,4,9,...,49) than for the absolute
> values (1,...,7).
>
> If I were doing it, I'd be inclined to use what you
> have called the
> absolute values, equivalent to what I would call
> multiplying by -1 (that
> is, reflecting the values about zero); because
> those values are so much
> closer to the original ("raw") data. Unless, of
> course, there were some
> inherent reason, or interpretation, related to the
> squared values.
>
> (Your posts to date have not hinted at any such
> reason/interpretation.)
> -- DFB.
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Donald F. Burrill
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 56 Sebbins Pond Drive, Bedford, NH 03110
> (603) 626-0816
>
> .
> .
>
=================================================================
> Instructions for joining and leaving this list,
> remarks about the
> problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are
> available at:
> . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/
> .
>
=================================================================
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
.
.
=================================================================
Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the
problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at:
. http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ .
=================================================================
