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Testing the assumptions underlying tetrachoric correlations

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Abstract

A method is proposed for empirically testing the appropriateness of using tetrachoric correlations for a set of dichotomous variables. Trivariate marginal information is used to get a set of one-degree of freedom chi-square tests of the underlying normality. It is argued that such tests should preferrably preceed further modeling of tetrachorics, for example, modeling by factor analysis. The assumptions are tested in some real and simulated data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, University of California, 90024, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

    Bengt Muthén

  2. College of Business and Marketing, Florida State University, USA

    Charles Hofacker

Authors
  1. Bengt Muthén
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  2. Charles Hofacker
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Muthén, B., Hofacker, C. Testing the assumptions underlying tetrachoric correlations. Psychometrika 53, 563–577 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294408

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294408

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