Comparison of the Usefulness of Within-Group and Total-Group Structure Coefficients for Identifying Variable Importance in Descriptive Discriminant Analysis Following a Significant MANOVA: Examination of the Two-Group Case

Abstract

This simulation study compared proportions of two types of structure coefficients in descriptive discriminant analysis, those based upon the error matrix, and those based upon the total matrix, for two groups from different populations with identical covariance matrices. The expected finding that the structure coefficients based upon the error matrix might be more appropriate than those based upon the total matrix was not supported.