Minitab MVDiscriminant Analysis.doc

Use Minitab’s multivariate analysis procedures to analyze your data when you have made multiple measurements on items or subjects. You can choose a method depending on whether you want to · analyze the data covariance structure for the sake of understanding it or to reduce the data dimension · assign observations to groups Analyzing the data covariance structure and assigning observations to groups are characterized by their non-inferential nature, that is, tests of significance are not computed. There may be no single answer but what may work best for your data may require knowledge of the situation. Analysis of the data structure Minitab offers two procedures that you can use to analyze the data covariance structure: · Principal Components is used to help you to understand the covariance structure in the original variables and/or to create a smaller number of variables using this structure. · Factor Analysis , like principal components, is used to summarize the data covariance structure in a smaller number of dimensions. The emphasis in factor analysis, however, is the identification of underlying “factors” that might explain the dimensions associated with large data variability. Grouping observations Minitab offers discriminant analysis and three cluster analysis methods for grouping observations: · Discriminant Analysis is used for classifying observations into two or more groups if you have a sample with known groups. Discriminant analysis can also used to investigate how the predictors contribute to the groupings. · Cluster Observations is used to group or cluster observations that are “close” to each other, when the groups are initially unknown. This method is a good choice when there is no outside information about grouping. The choice of final grouping is usually made according to what makes sense for your data after viewing clustering statistics. · Cluster Variables is used to group or cluster variables that are “close” to each other,