From Lags to Logs : Advances in Sequential Analysis

Abstract

Sequential analysis is not a single unified statistical topic, like the analysis of variance or multiple regression. Instead it is the application of a number of existing techniques to sequential categorical data. Early articles stressed the binomial test z score and lag-sequential analysis; subsequent articles provided the correct z score formula and suggested log-lineal analysis. But in spite of its apparent appropriateness, log-linear analysis has seldom been used for sequential analysis. The presente paper constitutes a brief introduction to log-linear analysis and emphasizes how log-linear techniques can be used for sequential analysis. It concludes by noting the availability of a standard format for sequential data and the usefulness of a general purpose computer program that would reduce sequential data into contingency tables suitable for log-linear analysis.