It's a wrap! A link to the complete Volume 2 is now available. View journal article

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Qualitative data analysis is a structured observational and clustering methodology which facilitates hypothesis development and variable generation for quantitative research, fruitfully employed in agriculture, anthropology, astronomy, biology, forensic investigation, education, history, marketing, medicine, political science, psychology, sociology, and zoology, to name a handful of diciplines. The method known … Continue reading Statistical Evaluation of the Findings of Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Paul R. Yarnold & Robert C. Soltysik Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Confirmatory hypothesis-testing methodology was recently demonstrated with an example assessing the effect of airborne beta nuclear radiation emanating from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown on the risk of confirmed congenital hypothyroidism (CH) for newborns in California in the years 2011-2012. Eyeball inspection of the data … Continue reading Exploratory Analysis for an Ordered Series of a Dichotomous Attribute: Airborne Radiation and Congenital Hypothyroidism of California Newborns

Paul R. Yarnold & Robert C. Soltysik Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Ordered series involving a dichotomous (binary) variable are widely used to describe changes in phenomena which occur across time. Examples of such series include the percentage of a sample or population each year (or other unit of time) that marries, dies, or is arrested. … Continue reading Confirmatory Analysis for an Ordered Series of a Dichotomous Attribute: Airborne Radiation and Congenital Hypothyroidism of California Newborns

Paul R. Yarnold & Robert C. Soltysik Optimal Data Analysis, LLC This third time trial of newly-released MegaODA™ software studies the fastest-to-analyze application, known as a 2x2 cross-classification table. Designs involving unweighted binary data are arguably currently the most widely employed across quantitative scientific disciplines as well as engineering fields including communications, graphics, data compression, … Continue reading MegaODA Large Sample and BIG DATA Time Trials: Maximum Velocity Analysis

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Recent research tested the hypothesis that the annual crude mortality rate (ACMR) was higher after versus before 1998 in counties of North Dakota, due to increased exposure of the population to environmental toxins and hazards beginning approximately at that time. This hypothesis was confirmed with experimentwise p<0.05 for … Continue reading Determining When Annual Crude Mortality Rate Most Recently Began Increasing in North Dakota Counties, I: Backward-Stepping Little Jiffy

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Published monthly by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan, the Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) is widely followed, and one of its factors (the Index of Consumer Expectations) is used in the Leading Indicator Composite Index published by the US Department of Commerce, Bureau of … Continue reading Surfing the Index of Consumer Sentiment: Identifying Statistically Significant Monthly and Yearly Changes

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Mean scores on a continuous dependent measure are compared across three or more groups using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). If a statistically significant overall or “omnibus” effect emerges, then a multiple comparisons procedure is used to ascertain the exact nature of any interclass differences. In contrast, the … Continue reading ODA Range Test vs. One-Way Analysis of Variance: Patient Race and Lab Results

Robert C. Soltysik & Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC In research involving multiple tests of statistical hypotheses the efficiency of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation used to estimate the Type I error rate (p) is maximized using a two-step procedure. The first step is identifying the effects that are not statistically significant or ns. … Continue reading MegaODA Large Sample and BIG DATA Time Trials: Harvesting the Wheat

Paul R. Yarnold & Gordon C. Brofft Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Among the most popular conventional statistical methods, Student’s t-test is used to compare the means of two groups on a single dependent measure assessed on a continuous scale. When three or more groups are compared, t-test is generalized to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). … Continue reading ODA Range Test vs. One-Way Analysis of Variance: Comparing Strength of Alternative Line Connections

Robert C. Soltysik & Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Just-released MegaODA™ software is capable of conducting UniODA analysis for an unlimited number of attributes using samples as large as one million observations. To minimize the computational burden associated with Monte Carlo simulation used to estimate the Type I error rate (p), the first … Continue reading MegaODA Large Sample and BIG DATA Time Trials: Separating the Chaff

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC This note presents SAS™ code for creating a requisite data set and UniODA™ and MegaODA™ code for maximizing the accuracy (ESS) of a multiple regression analysis-based model involving a Likert-type dependent measure with ten or fewer response options. View journal article

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC A scant few weeks ago disentanglement of effects identified in purely categorical designs in which all variables are categorical, including notoriously-complex rectangular categorical designs (RCDs) in which variables have a different number of response categories, was poorly understood. However, univariate and multivariate optimal (“maximum-accuracy”) statistical methods, specifically UniODA … Continue reading Univariate and Multivariate Analysis of Categorical Attributes with Many Response Categories

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Rectangular categorical designs (RCDs) are among the most prevalent designs in science. Categorical designs involve categorical measures. Examples of categorical measures include gender with two response categories (male, female), color with three response categories (red, blue, green), or political affiliation with many response categories. RCDs cross-tabulate two or … Continue reading Analyzing Categorical Attributes Having Many Response Options

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Examples of ordered "N-of-1" single-case series include the monthly closing price of a corporate stock, a dieter’s weight each Friday morning upon waking, or real-time heart rate of an ICU patient recorded minute-by-minute. The present study examined a single-case series for a patient with fibromyalgia, consisting of 297 … Continue reading Ascertaining an Individual Patient’s Symptom Dominance Hierarchy: Analysis of Raw Longitudinal Data Induces Simpson’s Paradox

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC The use of UniODA to compare response distributions for different attributes has been demonstrated for binary and ordered measures, using specifically-constructed data sets. This note presents SAS™ code for creating such data sets, and UniODA™ code for comparing attributes in single-case applications. View journal article

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Imagine a single case is assessed on two or more binary attributes over a series of measurements or testing sessions. For example, a chronic pain patient might rate their pain and fatigue each evening before sleep, as “worse than average” or “better than average”. Alternatively, imagine following two … Continue reading Comparing Responses to Dichotomous Attributes in Single-Case Designs

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Often at the advice of their physician, patients managing chronic disease such as fibromyalgia or arthritis, or those undergoing therapy in rehabilitation medicine or oncology, will record weekly or daily—sometimes even real-time ratings—of physical (e.g., pain, fatigue) and emotional (e.g., depression, anxiety) symptoms. Similarly, often at the advice … Continue reading Comparing Attributes Measured with “Identical” Likert-Type Scales in Single-Case Designs with UniODA

Paul R. Yarnold Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Serial or longitudinal measurement is widely practiced by people in all facets of real-world phenomena: an athlete wishes to know how many training sessions are required before significant increase in performance is realized; a musician wishes to assess how many on-stage performances are required before a significant increase … Continue reading The Most Recent, Earliest, and Kth Significant Changes in an Ordered Series: Traveling Backwards in Time to Assess When Annual Crude Mortality Rate Most Recently Began Increasing in McLean County, North Dakota

Paul R. Yarnold, Ph.D. Optimal Data Analysis, LLC Recent research reported support for the a priori hypothesis that annual crude mortality rate (ACMR) was higher after widespread commercial usage of toxic chemicals and biocides began in the environment in North Dakota in 1998. UniODA was used to compare ACMR in 1934-1997 versus 1998-2005 (the most … Continue reading Trajectory of Crude Mortality Rate in North Dakota Counties