Log-linear modelling

Log-linear analysis has become a widely used method for the analysis of multivariate frequency tables obtained by crossclassifying sets of nominal, ordinal, or discrete interval level variables. Examples of textbooks discussing categorical data analysis by means of log-linear models are [4], [2], [14], [15], [16], and [27]. We start by introducing the standard hierarchical log-linear modelling framework. Then, attention is paid to more advanced types of log-linear models that make it possible to impose interesting restrictions on the model parameters, for example, restrictions for ordinal variables. Subsequently, we present “regression-analytic”, ”path-analytic”, and “factor-analytic” variants of log-linear analysis. The last section discusses parameter estimation by maximum likelihood, testing, and software for log-linear analysis.