A Note On The Multiple Regression Technique For Deleting Variables In The Discriminant Function

IN AN EARLY PAPER on taxonomic problems, Fisher, [l, 184] showed that the linear discriminant function for two groups can be conveniently ob tained by constructing a certain multiple regression function. Fisher's formulation employed the dis criminant variables as the independent regression variables and introduced a dichotomous dummy var iable as the dependent variable identifying group membership. Since its introduction in the litera ture, use of the regression function as a device for computing the discriminant function has been made by many researchers and discussed by several wri ters (see [4]) The preference of the regression ap proach among psychologists and educators seems to be due to the existence of numerous computer pro grams for rapid computation and also to their fa miliarity with regression methods. The purpose of this paper is to consider a method presented in multiple regression for variable selec tion or deletion for the two group discrimination problem. The actual circumstances under which the method may be used in a strict sense seem to be relatively unknown to researchers in educational fields.