[R] simple linear regression with proportion data

Ben Bolker bbolker at gmail.com
Fri Nov 16 23:16:19 CET 2012


SH <emptican <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> Dear list:
> 
> Can I use simple linear regression when I have proportion data for
> both dependent and independent variables?  Or, should I use beta
> regression analysis?  Or any suggestion?
> 

  The distribution of the independent variable is irrelevant (in
some circumstances it matters whether it is measured without error or not).

  Depending on what you want to do, and how close the proportion data
come to 0 or 1, you might choose to use linear regression, or linear regression
on arcsine-square-root transformed data, or beta regression.  It really
depends what you want to do with the answers and what your audience expects. 
You might try this on http://stats.stackexchange.com with a bit more context.

   Ben Bolker




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