This volume presents theoretical developments, applications and computational methods for the analysis and modeling in behavioral and social sciences where data are usually complex to explore and investigate. The challenging proposals provide a connection between statistical methodology and the social domain with particular attention to computational issues in order to effectively address complicated data analysis problems.
The papers in this volume stem from contributions initially presented at the joint international meeting JCS-CLADAG held in Anacapri (Italy) where the Japanese Classification Society and the Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society had a stimulating scientific discussion and exchange.
This book provides an accessible introduction and practical guidelines to apply asymmetric multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and related methods to asymmetric one-mode two-way and three-way asymmetric data. A major objective of this book is to present to applied researchers a set of methods and algorithms for graphical representation and clustering of asymmetric relationships. Data frequently concern measurements of asymmetric relationships between pairs of objects from a given set (e.g., subjects, variables, attributes,...), collected in one or more matrices. Examples abound in many different fields such as psychology, sociology, marketing research, and linguistics and more recently several applications have appeared in technological areas including cybernetics, air traffic control, robotics, and network analysis. The capabilities of the presented algorithms are illustrated by carefully chosen examples and supported by extensive data analyses. A review of the specialized statistical software available for the applications is also provided. This monograph is highly recommended to readers who need a complete and up-to-date reference on methods for asymmetric proximity data analysis.
