Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
An Analysis of U-Value as a Measure of Variability. |
| Authors: |
Kong, Xiuyan, McEwan, James, Bizo, Lewis, Foster, T. |
| Source: |
Psychological Record. Dec2017, Vol. 67 Issue 4, p581-586. 6p. |
| Subjects: |
Differences, Variability (Psychometrics), Probability theory, Regression analysis, Data analysis |
| Abstract: |
The variability in behavior has frequently been assessed using a measure known as the U-value. Of concern in this article were the limits and constraints on U-value as a measure of variability. The relation between the U-value and aspects of variability was examined using three sets of simulated data. Our analysis demonstrates that the U-value as a measure of variability on its own fails to capture repetitive patterns in the sequence of responding. The U-value was shown to reflect the evenness of the distributions of responses across the categories/options used; however, when the number of categories actually used by the participant differed from the total number available, the relation between U-values and the number of categories allocated with responses was shown to be nonlinear. It was also shown that the same value of U can represent different levels of evenness in response distributions over categories, depending on the number of categories/options actually used. These constraints and limitations are discussed in relation to how researchers might report on behavioral variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|
Copyright of Psychological Record is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
