Modern Multidimensional Scaling: Theory and Applications (Springer Series in Statistics)

The book provides a comprehensive treatment of multidimensional scaling (MDS), a statistical technique used to analyze the structure of similarity or dissimilarity data in multidimensional space. Such data are widespread, for example, intercorrelations of attitude items, direct ratings of similarity on choice objects, or trade indices for a set of countries. MDS models such data as distances among points in a geometric space of low dimensionality. This makes complex data sets accessible to visual exploration and thus aids in seeing structure not obvious from the numbers. Other uses of MDS interpret the geometry and, in particular, the distance function as a psychological composition rule. The book may be used as an introduction to MDS for students in many areas including statistics, psychology, sociology, political sciences, and marketing. The prerequisite is a two-semester course in statistics for the social or managerial sciences. The book is also suited for several varieties of advanced courses on MDS, either with an emphasis on data analysis or with a focus on the psychology of similarity. All the mathematics required for more advanced topics is developed systematically.