Method for generating analyses of categorical data

摘要

According to the present invention, a conversion or representation of categorical data was created that allows a significant number of exploratory multivariate analysis methods to be brought to bear on categorical data. Whereas previously, each response to a question might have been modeled as an outcome from a multinomial probability distribution; according to the present invention each response is represented as an actual discrete probability distribution with all its mass in one cell. With this interpretation or conversion, the vector of measurements for each individual can be viewed as a member of the linear space that includes vectors of probability distributions.