AN APPLICATION OF THE LINEAR DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION.

The linear discriminant function appears to be a useful statistical technique in sociology and economics, but application of it in these fields has been slow to develop. This paper illustrates its applicability in the analysis of social participation data from three central Pennsylvania communities. The problem of what characteristics of farmers best discriminate between active and inactive participants is used to demonstrate the technique. The results are compared with the results obtained by merely comparing the individual measures for the two groups, and with the results from multiple regression techniques. Some limitations of the linear discriminant function method are pointed out, but it is concluded that this technique is definitely useful in analyzing certain kinds of sociological and economic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]