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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Sep 30.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Res Bull. 2010 Apr 28;83(3-4):177–188. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2010.04.012

Table 3.

Data Analysis Methods that Interrogate the Relationship Between Two Sets of Variables

Technique References Properties Description
Biclustering;
QR-mode
factor
analysis
[88,89] Description Find groups of individuals that share features on subsets of
variables
Advantages Combines clustering and factor analysis
Disadvantages Hard to assess the cluster significance probabilistically
Standard
Multivariate
Regression
[90,91] Description Assess the linear relationships between two sets of variables
Advantages Long history and experience; ease of interpretation and
significance
Disadvantages Does not work with highly correlated, numerous independent
variables
Canonical
Correlation;
PLS
[20,41,92] Description Determine relationships between combinations of variables in
two sets
Advantages Find patterns in relationships between two large data sources
Disadvantages Does not necessarily allow intuitive interpretations
Distance
Analysis
[85,93] Description Predict the distance between individuals based on one set of
dependent variables from multiple independent variables
Advantages Can accommodate a very large number of dependent variables
Disadvantages Does not find optimal subset of ‘important’ dependent variables
Mixture
Models
[94,95] Description Identify subgroups of individuals leveraging multiple variables
Advantages Parametric formulations have easily interpretable parameters
Disadvantages Cannot accommodate a large number of independent of co-
variables