Validity and Structural Reliability of Multidimensional Scaling

Abstract

The author examines the convergent and discriminant validity of multidimensional scaling (MDS) using the multitrait-multimethod matrix approach. An assessment also is made of the impact on MDS solutions due to embedding of stimuli in similar stimuli and due to change in stimulus domain introduced via different kinds of stimuli. The results indicate reasonable validity and that MDS solutions are fairly robust to the impact of embedding but less robust to changes in stimulus domain.