A comparative study of association measures

This paper discusses the general problem of measuring the association between an independent nominal-scaled variableX and a dependent variableY whose scale of measurement may be interval, ordinal or nominal. The theoretical foundations of a wide range of asymmetric association measures are discussed. Some new measures are also suggested. Fifteen of these association measures, some previously suggested, some new, are singled out for a computer-assisted numerical study in which we compute the value actually taken by each measure under a wide variety of conditions. This comparative study provides important insights into the behavior of the measures.

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