MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING - COMBINING OBSERVATIONS WHEN INDIVIDUALS HAVE DIFFERENT PERCEPTUAL STRUCTURES

The usual methods of combining observations to give interpoint distance estimates based on interstimulus differences are shown to lead to a distortion of the stimulus configuration unless all individuals in a group perceive the stimuli in perceptual spaces which are essentially the same. The nature of the expected distortion is shown, and a method of combining individual distance estimates which produces only a linear deformation of the stimulus configuration is given. © 1969 Psychometric Society.