ABSTRACT
The reader will recall that in chapter 2 we outlined the system developed by Coombs (1951, 1964) that categorized different kinds of data according to three criteria. One criterion was whether the relation underlying the data represented a dominance relation, epitomized by the mathematical relation “greater than” or the relation was one based on proximity, or closeness. The second was whether the relation was between members of the same set or different sets. The third, to which we pay little attention in this book, depended on whether the relation as between members of pairs of elements, or between pairs of pairs of elements. So far, in chapters 4, 5, and 6, we have been concerned with data representing two-set relations, typically persons or examinees, compared to items. In this chapter, we are concerned with cases where the fundamental data represent ordering relations between members of the same set. This has many applications in applied and basic experimental psychology, but also in other social and behavioral sciences.
