When the response variable for a regression model is categorical, linear models don’t work. Logistic regression is one type of model that does, and it’s relatively straightforward for binary responses.
When the response variable is not just categorical, but ordered categories, the model needs to be able to handle the multiple categories, and ideally, account for the ordering.
An easy-to-understand and common example is level of educational attainment. Depending on the population being studied, some response categories may include:
1 Less than high school
2 Some high school, but no degree
3 Attain GED
4 High school graduate
You can see how there are qualitative differences in these categories that wouldn’t be captured by years of education. You can also see that [Read more…] about Generalized Ordinal Logistic Regression for Ordered Response Variables