title: On the modelling and estimation of attribute rankings with ties in the Thurstonian framework.
abstract: A Thurstonian type approach is applied to modelling ranking data with ties. It uses a non-totally differentiable discriminational process instead of the conventional totally differential one to relate the observed rankings and the underlying subjective values. A Monte Carlo expectation-maximization algorithm is proposed to find the maximum likelihood estimates together with the standard errors of the parameters. The approach is examined numerically by means of an artificial example and a simulation study and is applied to a study of attribute assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. wypoon@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Wai-Yin
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D015895:Relative Value Scales; D040241:Social Marketing; D013223:Statistics as Topic