This kind of question is very difficult to answer
in a useful and responsible way, possibly even if (unlike
me) you have experience with assessing "health
status" data. The question in effect presupposes
that there are good technical answers independent
on what the data are like and what the precise
research problem is.
My awkward question in return is based on the fact that's
it's discrete already. Why do you want to lump
categories further, thus producing a loss of
information?
Nick
[email protected]
samirkc
> I have a discrete variable (health status) which takes value
> from -1.6
> to 1. The data consists of pre and post values of the
> variable. I want
> to categorize the variable in 3-7 categories in order to study the
> movement between categories . How can I do this? What
> Criteria should I
> use to determine the best categorization, in terms of 1. number of
> categories and, 2. cutoffs. Please respond.
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