Exploring contingency tables with correspondence analysis

An algorithm for correspondence analysis is described and implementedin SAS/IML (SAS Institute, 1985a). The technique is shown, throughthe analysis of several biological examples, to supplement thelog-linear models approach to the analysis of contingency tables,both in the model identification and model interpretation stagesof analysis. A simple two-way contingency table of tumor datais analyzed using correspondence analysis. This example emphasisesthe relationships between the parameters of the log-linear modelfor the table and the graphical correspondence analysis results.The technqiue is also applied to a three-way table of surveydata concerning ulcer patients to demonstrate applications ofsimple correspondence analysis to higher dimensional tableswith fixed margins. Finally, the diets and foraging behaviorsof birds of the Hubbard Brook Forest are each analyzed and thena simultaneous display of the two separate but related tablesis constructed to highlight relationships between the tables. Received on August 29, 1988; accepted on April 25, 1989