How Category Selection Impacts Inference Reliability: Inheritance Inference From an Ecological Perspective

Bayesian and Frequentist Inference for Ecological Inference

In this paper we propose Bayesian and frequentist approaches to ecological inference, based on R C contingency tables, including a covariate. The proposed Bayesian model extends the binomial-beta hierarchical model developed by King, Rosen and Tanner (1999) from the 2 2 case to the R C case. As in the 2 2 case, the inferential procedure employs Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. As such, ...

Salience Not Status: How Category Labels Influence Feature Inference

Two main uses of categories are classification and feature inference, and category labels have been widely shown to play a dominant role in feature inference. However, the nature of this influence remains unclear, and we evaluate two contrasting hypotheses formalized as mathematical models: the label special-mechanism hypothesis and the label super-salience hypothesis. The special-mechanism hyp...

Category Representation and Category-Based Inference

To make sense of the myriad new and existing products and services in the marketplace, consum­ ers construct and use categorical representations to classify, interpret, and understand information they receive about these products and services. We define a consumer category as a set of products, services, brands, or other marketing entities, states, or events that appear, to the consumer, relate...

Inference on Ecological Diversity

Cross-level/ecological Inference

The cross-level or ecological inference problem has fascinated scholars for nearly a century (Ogburn and Goltra 1919, Allport 1924, Gehlke and Biehl 1934). The problem occurs when one is interested in the behavior of individuals, but has data only at an aggregated level (e.g., precincts, hospital wards, counties). This data limitation creates a situation where the behavior of individuals must b...