Flexible Approaches for Assessing and Modelling Nonlinear Effects

ASA Data Visualization Workshop

June 30, 2021

• Slides

Abstract

Many effects of interest to sociologists are nonlinear. Many exploratory techniques exist to assess nonlinear relationships. These techniques often suggest straightforward ways to adjust the specification of a subsequent regression model to better model the nonlinear relationship. Techniques covered include LOWESS (locally weighted scatterplot smoothing), local polynomial smoothing, nominal specifications of continuous independent variables, polynomial independent variables, and regression splines.