= SAS macro for computing polychoric correlations = The following macro, which is downloadable from the [[http://support.sas.com/kb/25/010.html|SAS website]], may also be copied and pasted into a SAS file of form *.sas which can be included for use in a factor analysis using SAS using syntax as below. {{{ PROC IMPORT OUT= WORK.WHEATON DATAFILE= "C:\Documents and Settings\peterw\Desktop\My Documents\EQS FILES STAI\TRAIB_CC.TXT" DBMS=TAB REPLACE; GETNAMES=YES; DATAROW=2; %inc 'C:\Documents and Settings\peterw\Desktop\My Documents\My Documents2\JOE HERBERT\POLYCHORIC MACRO.sas'; %polychor(var=T_Q_21 T_Q_22 T_Q_23 T_Q_24 T_Q_25,out=dist) proc print; run; }}} The polychoric correlation macro is below - which is assumed in the above to be put into a file called polychoric macro.sas. {{{ /********************************************************************** | * ** | | | | %POLYCHOR macro | | Version 1.2 | | | | DISCLAIMER: | | THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED BY SAS INSTITUTE INC. AS A SERVICE | | TO | | ITS USERS. IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS". THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES, | | EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A | | PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THE ACCURACY OF THE MATERIALS OR | | CODE | | CONTAINED HEREIN. | | | | PURPOSE: | | The POLYCHOR macro creates a SAS data set containing a | | correlation | | matrix of polychoric correlations or a distance matrix based on | | polychoric correlations. | | | | REQUIRES: | | %POLYCHOR requires only Version 6.07 or later of base SAS | | Software. | | | | USAGE: | | Before calling the POLYCHOR macro, you must first define the | | macro in | | your current SAS session. You can do this either by copying this | | file | | into the SAS program editor and submitting it, or by using a | | %INCLUDE | | statement containing the path and filename of this file on your | | system. | | | | Once the macro is defined, call the macro using the desired | | options. | | See the section below for an example. | | | | The options and allowable values are: | | | | DATA= SAS data set to be analyzed. If the DATA= option is | | not | | supplied, the most recently created SAS data set is | | used. | | | | VAR= Polychoric or tetrachoric correlations will be | | computed | | for every pair of variables listed in the VAR= option. | | Individual variable names, separated by blanks, must | | be | | specified. By default, all numeric variables found in | | the data set will be used. See LIMITATIONS below for | | time considerations. | | | | OUT= Specifies the name of the output data set that will | | contain the correlation or distance matrix. By | | default, | | the output data set is named _PLCORR. | | | | TYPE= Specifies the type of matrix to be created. If | | TYPE=CORR (the default), then a correlation matrix is | | computed and the output data set is assigned a data | | set | | type of CORR. If TYPE=DISTANCE, then a distance | | matrix | | is computed and the output dat set is assigned a data | | set type of DISTANCE. | | | | PRINTED OUTPUT: | | No printed output is generated by the %POLYCHOR macro. | | | | DETAILS: | | The PLCORR option in the FREQ procedure is used iteratively to | | compute the polychoric correlation for each pair of variables. | | If | | both variables in a pair are binary (that is, they take on only | | two | | distinct values), then the correlation computed by the PLCORR | | option is usually referred to as the tetrachoric correlation. | | | | The individual correlation coefficients are then assembled into | | either a TYPE=CORR data set containing a matrix of polychoric | | correlations, or a TYPE=DISTANCE data set containing a matrix of | | dissimilarity values. The dissimilarity value used is computed | | as: | | | | 1 - plcorr**2 | | | | where plcorr is the polychoric correlation. | | | | The resulting data set can be used for descriptive analyses only | | in | | either the FACTOR or the CALIS procedure (specify METHOD=ULS in | | either procedure) if the correlation matrix is computed. If the | | maximum likelihood method (METHOD=ML) is used, note that none of | | the hypothesis tests will be valid, and the polychoric | | correlation | | matrix may be indefinite with small samples. The distance matrix | | can be used in the CLUSTER procedure (however, the CCC value is | | not | | valid) or the MDS procedure. | | | | See the Appendix, "Special SAS Data Sets" in the SAS/STAT User's | | Guide for a description of TYPE=CORR and DISTANCE data sets. | | | | MISSING VALUES: | | Observations with missing values are omitted from the computation | | | | of correlations. However, when computing the polychoric | | correlation between two variables, if an observation's values for | | | | these two variables are not missing, then the observation is used | | regardless of any missing values the observation may have on | | other | | variables. | | | | LIMITATIONS: | | LIMITED ERROR CHECKING IS DONE. If the DATA= option is | | specified, | | be sure the named data set exists. If DATA= is not specified, a | | data set must have been created previously in the current SAS | | session. Be sure that the variables specified in the VAR= option | | exist on that data set. Running PROC CONTENTS on the data set | | prior to using this macro is recommended for verifying the data | | set | | name and the names of variables. | | | | The time required to compute the correlation or distance matrix | | increases quadratically as the number of variables increases. Up | | | | to 999 variables are allowed, but the time required for more than | | | | 100 variables may be exorbitant. | | | | EXAMPLE: | | | | data ordinal; | | array x{5} x1-x5; | | do n=1 to 20; | | do i=1 to 5; | | x{i}=rantbl(238423,.1,.2,.4,.2,.1); | | end; | | keep x1-x5; | | output; | | end; | | run; | | | | * If not already defined in your current SAS session, define | | the | | * POLYCHOR macro before calling it by putting the path and | | * filename of your copy of this file in the %INCLUDE statement | | * below. Example: %inc 'c:\mysasfiles\polychor.sas'; | | | | *****************************************************************; | | | | %inc ''; | | | | * Create and print a TYPE=CORR data set named _PLCORR | | containing | | * a matrix of polychoric correlations among all variables in | | the | | * data set ORDINAL. | | | | *****************************************************************; | | | | %polychor() | | proc print; run; | | | | * Create and print a TYPE=DISTANCE data set named DIST | | containing | | * a dissimilarity matrix using variables X1, X2, and X5. | | | | *****************************************************************; | | | | %polychor(data=ordinal,var=x1 x2 x5,out=dist,type=distance) | | proc print; run; | | | | ********************************************************************** | | **/ %macro polychor( data=_last_, var=_numeric_, out=_plcorr, type=corr ); options nonotes nostimer; %if &data=_last_ %then %let data=&syslast; /* Verify that TYPE=CORR or DISTANCE */ %if %upcase(&type) ne CORR and %upcase(&type) ne DISTANCE %then %do; %put ERROR: TYPE= must be CORR or DISTANCE.; %goto exit; %end; data _null_; set &data; array x{*} &var; length name $8.; if _n_=1 then do i=1 to dim(x); call vname(x{i} , name); call symput('_v'||trim(left(put(i,4.))) , name); end; p=dim(x); call symput('_p',trim(left(put(p,4.)))); run; %do _i=1 %to &_p; %do _j=&_i+1 %to &_p; proc freq data=&data noprint; tables &&_v&_i * &&_v&_j / plcorr; output out=_tmp plcorr; run; data _null_; set _tmp; value= %if %upcase(&type)=CORR %then _plcorr_; %if %upcase(&type)=DISTANCE %then 1-_plcorr_**2; ; call symput("p&_i._&_j" , value); run; %end; %end; data &out %if %upcase(&type)=CORR %then %do; ; _type_='CORR'; length _name_ $8.; %end; %if %upcase(&type)=DISTANCE %then %str( (type=distance); ); /* Create matrix */ array x{*} %do i=1 %to &_p; &&_v&i %end; ; do i=1 to dim(x); do j=1 to i; /* Set diagonal values */ if i=j then x{j}= %if %upcase(&type)=CORR %then 1; %if %upcase(&type)=DISTANCE %then 0; ; /* Set lower triangular values */ else x{j}=symget("p"||trim(left(put(j,4.)))||"_" ||trim(left(put(i,4.)))); end; /* Create _NAME_ variable for CORR data sets */ %if %upcase(&type)=CORR %then %str( _name_=symget("_v"||trim(left(put(i,4.)))); ); drop i j; output; end; run; /* Add _TYPE_=MEAN, STD and N observations to CORR data sets */ %if %upcase(&type)=CORR %then %do; proc summary data=&data; var &var; output out=_simple (drop=_type_ _freq_ rename=(_stat_=_type_)); run; data &out (type=corr); set _simple (where=(_type_ in ('MEAN','STD','N'))) &out; run; %end; %if &syserr=0 %then %if %upcase(&type)=CORR %then %do; %put; %put POLYCHOR: Polychoric correlation matrix was output to data set %upcase(&out).; %put; %end; %else %do; %put; %put POLYCHOR: Distance matrix based on polychoric correlations was output; %put %str( to data set %upcase(&out).); %put; %end; %exit: options notes stimer; %mend polychor; }}}