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COM 631: Multivariate Statistical Methods

COURSE OBJECTIVE: Building on the foundation of COM 512, this course will cover more advanced
quantitative analysis, with an emphasis on multivariate statistics. Inasmuch as the goal of the course is to
develop your skills as designers, commissioners, and interpreters of research, an emphasis will be placed on
the use and interpretation of complex statistics, rather than on the mechanics of their calculation. In the class,
we will make frequent use of the data analytic computer package SPSS.

COURSE MATERIALS:

The following text is required:

Hair, J. F. Jr., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Other required readings:

*Many handouts prepared by your instructor will be distributed in class or posted on the class web site
throughout the term.

*Other required articles or chapters will be distributed in class or posted on the class web site.

*It’s recommended that students have available a manual or textbook on the use of SPSS. The
following is recommended:

George, D., & Mallery, P. (2010). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference, 18.0
update (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

The following texts are recommended for backup, and for additional information on selected topics:

Aldenderfer, M. S., & Blashfield, R. K. (1984). Cluster analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Babbie, E. (2007). The practice of social research (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Blalock, H. M. (1979). Social statistics (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Bray, J. H., & Maxwell, S. E. (1985). Multivariate analysis of variance. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
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Carmines, E. G., & Zeller, R. A. (1979). Reliability and validity assessment. Newbury Park, CA:
Sage.

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.

Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation
analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Harris, R. J. (2001). A primer of multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Publishers.

Hayduk, L. A. (1987). Structural equation modeling with LISREL: Essentials and advances.
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Hosmer, D. W., & Lemeshow, S. (2000). Applied logistic regression (2nd ed.). New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Kachigan, S. K. (1986). Statistical analysis: An interdisciplinary introduction to univariate and

Keppel, G., & Wickens, T. D. (1991). Design and analysis: A researcher's handbook (4th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Klecka, W. R. (1991). Discriminant analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Kruskal, J. B., Wish, M. (1991). Multidimensional scaling. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Maruyama, G. M. (1998). Basics of structural equation modeling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Pedhazur, E. J. (1997). Multiple regression in behavioral research: Explanation and prediction (3rd
ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Boston:
Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Thompson, B. (1984). Canonical correlation analysis: Uses and interpretation. Beverly Hills, CA:
Sage.

Voelker, D. H., Orton, P. Z., & Adams, S. V. (2001). Statistics. New York: Wiley.

Williams, F., & Monge, P. (2001). Reasoning with statistics: How to read quantitative research (5th
ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Publishers.
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Further information on each of these assignments will be discussed in class as the term progresses:
1. A midterm and a final exam. The midterm will have both take-home and in-class components,
and the final exam will be take-home. The midterm take-home and the final exam both will
include the requirement of some SPSS analyses. The final will include the critique of at least
one published research article. The full midterm is worth 20% and the final exam 15% of your
course grade. The in-class midterm will be held on Wed., March 9, and the take-home
component will be due on the same day. The final exam will be due at 6 pm on Wed., May 11.
2. Data handling assignments--each student will be required to perform a number of data-handling
tasks. Each student will be asked to conduct a variety of analyses on the data, including scale
construction (worth 5%) and the running of multivariate statistics that are not included in the
exams, presentation, or final project (worth 15%). All data handling assignments together are
worth a total of 30% of your course grade.
3. In-class presentation on one multivariate statistic--each student will be assigned a technique to
learn in detail, with one or two other students. The small-group presentation will include
sample SPSS commands and output exemplifying the statistic as derived from a class data set.
It will also include the findings correctly tabled, with a short written description of the findings.
Each presentation is worth 20% of your grade. All presentations will be reviewed with the
instructor prior to presentation.
4. A research report--this paper will include the development and testing of hypotheses using
multivariate statistics, using a class data set and the SPSS program. Specific details on this
assignment will be distributed in class. Students should plan on handing in both output and a
complete, written analysis, worth 15% of your grade.

To summarize:
MIDTERM (2 parts) 40 pts. 20%
FINAL EXAM 30 pts. 15%
DATA HANDLING
(various tasks) 60 pts. 30%
PRESENTATION 30 pts. 15%
REPORT 40 pts. 20%
200 pts. 100%
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COURSE OUTLINE:

1. A review of univariate and Hair et al., Chs. 1, 2

2. SPSS & data handling

3. Factor analysis Hair et al., Ch. 3

4. Multiple regression Hair et al. Chs. 4

5. Discriminant analysis Hair et al. Ch. 5

6. Logistic regression Hair et al. Ch. 6

7. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) Hair et al. Ch. 7

8. Conjoint analysis Hair et al. Ch. 8

9. Canonical correlation TBA

10. Cluster analysis Hair et al. Ch. 9

11. Multidimensional scaling Hair et al. Ch. 10, 11

12. Structural equation modeling Hair et al. Chs. 12-15

13. Emerging techniques in multivariate analyses TBA