ABSTRACT
This first chapter starts off with a discussion of confirmatory versus exploratory analyses in behavioral research, and exploratory approaches are considered most useful. Decision Tree Analysis (DTA) is defined in historical and technical detail. Four real-life examples are presented to give a flavor of what is now possible with DTA: (1) Predicting Coronary Heart Disease from Age; (2) Some New Approaches to the Classification of Alzheimer’s Disease; (3) Exploring Predictors of College Academic Performances from High School; and (4) Exploring Patterns of Changes in Longitudinal WISC Data. In each case, current questions regarding DTA are raised. The discussion that follows considers the benefits and limitations of this exploratory approach, and the author concludes that confirmatory analyses should be always be done first, but this should at all times be followed by exploratory analyses.
