An Examination Of Some Factors Related To Using Different Minkowski Models In Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling

Great interest in non-metric multidimensional scaling has resulted in a number of computer programs to derive solutions. This study examined the effect upon stress of data generated under five metrics and recovered under all five metrics. MDSCAL-5M. TORSCA-9, and POLYCON-II were used to analyse these data. POLYCON-II was the most accurate, although none of the programs was highly successful. In most cases recovery with the Euclidian metric provided, if not the best, very close to the best recovery regardless of the true metric. This study also raised the question of the advisability of using different metric models in nonmetric multidimensional scaling and found that even very different Minkowski metrics are quite similar in the way they rank order dissimilarities.