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Linear versus logistic regression when the dependent variable is a dichotomy

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Abstract

The article argues against the popular belief that linear regression should not be used when the dependent variable is a dichotomy. The relevance of the statistical arguments against linear analyses, that the tests of significance are inappropriate and that one risk getting meaningless results, are disputed. Violating the homoscedasticity assumption seems to be of little practical importance, as an empirical comparison of results shows nearly identical outcomes for the two kinds of significance tests. When linear analysis of dichotomous dependent variables is seen as acceptable, there in many situations exist compelling arguments of a substantive nature for preferring this approach to logistic regression. Of special importance is the intuitive meaningfulness of the linear measures as differences in probabilities, and their applicability in causal (path) analysis, in contrast to the logistic measures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1097, 0317, Blindern, Oslo, Norway

    Ottar Hellevik

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  1. Ottar Hellevik
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Correspondence to Ottar Hellevik.

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Hellevik, O. Linear versus logistic regression when the dependent variable is a dichotomy. Qual Quant 43, 59–74 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-007-9077-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-007-9077-3

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