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On the practice of dichotomization of quantitative variables.
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The authors examine the practice of dichotomization of quantitative measures, wherein relationships among variables are examined after 1 or more variables have been converted to dichotomous variables by splitting the sample at some point on the scale(s) of measurement. A common form of dichotomization is the median split, where the independent variable is split at the median to form high and low groups, which are then compared with respect to their means on the dependent variable. The consequences of dichotomization for measurement and statistical analyses are illustrated and discussed. The use of dichotomization in practice is described, and justifications that are offered for such usage are examined. The authors present the case that dichotomization is rarely defensible and often will yield misleading results.
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“However, grouping loses information and may reduce statistical power [ 87 ] especially when dichotomization is used [ 82 , 85 , 88 ].”
From Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE): Explanation and Elaboration (2007) · cites this paper as [85]
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“In another survey, of the psychological literature, dichotomization was justified in only 22 of 110 articles (20%) [ 85 ].”
From Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE): Explanation and Elaboration (2007) · cites this paper as [85]
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“However, such dichotomisation will result in an unnecessary loss of statistical power and precision if continuous alternatives are available (MacCallum et al., 2002; Royston et al., 2006).”
From Rating norms should be calculated from cumulative link mixed effects models (2022) · cites this paper as MacCallum et al., 2002
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“Artificially dichotomizing continuous measures is rarely conceptually or statistically defensible, and frequently yields misleading results (MacCallum et al., 2002).”
From Do growth mindset interventions impact students’ academic achievement? A systematic review and meta-analysis with recommendations for best practices. (2023) · cites this paper as MacCallum et al., 2002
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Wakker, P. P., Timmermans, D. R. M., & Machielse, I. (2007) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.1070.0735 · Cited by 54
“Because the independent variables, risk aversion and the cost variable, are uncorrelated median splits are not problematic (MacCallum et al. 2002).”
BackgroundMandatory use of technology-based self-service: does expertise help or hurt?
Reinders, M. J., Frambach, R. T., & Kleijnen, M. H. P. (2015) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-12-2012-0735 · Cited by 57
“Future research could validate this study by using other operationalizations or categorizations of customer expertise that allow the maximum use of statistical power (MacCallum et al., 2002).”
Methodvan Dulmen, M. H. M., & Egeland, B. R. (2010) · International Journal of Behavioral Development · doi:10.1177/0165025410392112 · Cited by 66
“That is, using simulation data, MacCallum and colleagues showed that correlations may be inflated when an originally continuous variable is dichotomized, particularly when the sample size and the original correlation between the variables is small (MacCallum et al., 2002, p. 26, Table 1).”
BackgroundMethodReynolds, L., McCambridge, S. A., Bissett, I. P., & Consedine, N. S. (2014) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000023 · Cited by 57
Wang, K., & Chen, Y.-J. (2019) · Journal of Transport Geography · doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.102603 · Cited by 57
Harpur, L. J., Polek, E., & van Harmelen, A. (2015) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.05.019 · Cited by 57
Lehr, D., Hillert, A., & Keller, S. (2009) · International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health · doi:10.1179/oeh.2009.15.4.374 · Cited by 58
A Review of Measurement Equivalence in Organizational Research: What's Old, What's New, What's Next?
Somaraju, A. V., Nye, C. D., & Olenick, J. S. (2021) · Organizational Research Methods · doi:10.1177/10944281211056524 · Cited by 56
“This can help to facilitate attempts to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms that cause MNE (which are often continuous) without requiring researchers to artificially dichotomize variables (MacCallum et al. 2002).”
BackgroundGorski, M., Rasheed, H., Teumer, A., Thomas, L. F., Graham, S. E., Sveinbjörnsson, G., Winkler, T. W., Günther, F., Stark, K. J., Chai, J. F., et al. (2022) · Kidney International · doi:10.1016/j.kint.2022.05.021 · Cited by 56
“23 The limited availability of longitudinal GWASs is not only an issue for kidney function decline, but also generally (e.g., change in lung function [n ¼ 27,249 24 ], glucose [n ¼ 13,807 25 ], or blood pressure [n ¼ 33,720 26 ]); consequently, locus fi ndings on biomarker change are few and often…”
Gámez, W., Watson, D., & Doebbeling, B. N. (2006) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.08.003 · Cited by 56
Numerosity-Length Interference
Dormal, V., & Pesenti, M. (2007) · Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) · doi:10.1027/1618-3169.54.4.289 · Cited by 56
Black, P., Woodworth, M., & Porter, S. (2013) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2013.10.026 · Cited by 56
Huh, J. W., Lee, J. H., & Kim, H. R. (2013) · Annals of Surgery · doi:10.1097/sla.0b013e31829b3916 · Cited by 56
Kelley, M. L., Runnals, J. J., Pearson, M. R., Miller, M. M., Fairbank, J. A., & Brancu, M. (2013) · Drug and Alcohol Dependence · doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.08.002 · Cited by 56
Maternal mindfulness and anxiety during pregnancy affect infants’ neural responses to sounds
van den Heuvel, M. I., Donkers, F. C. L., Winkler, I., Otte, R. A., & den Bergh, B. R. H. V. (2014) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsu075 · Cited by 56
“Instead of dichotomizing the variables, continuous predictors were used because dichotomizing might lead to loss of information, effect size, power, risks missing non-linear effects and may cause problems in comparing and aggregating findings across studies (e.g. MacCallum et al., 2002).”
ResultDeceptively yours: Valence-based creativity and deception
Kapoor, H., & Khan, A. (2017) · Thinking Skills and Creativity · doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2016.12.006 · Cited by 56
Assche, L. V., van Aubel, E., de Ven, L. V., Bouckaert, F., Luyten, P., & Vandenbulcke, M. (2018) · Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology · doi:10.1093/arclin/acy034 · Cited by 57
Facial expression, size, and clutter: Inferences from movie structure to emotion judgments and back
Cutting, J. E., & Armstrong, K. L. (2016) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-015-1003-5 · Cited by 55
Manager narcissism and employee silence: A socio‐analytic theory perspective
Hamstra, M. R. W., Schreurs, B. H. J., Jawahar, I. M. “., Laurijssen, L. M., & Hünermund, P. (2021) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1111/joop.12337 · Cited by 55
Flexible Semantic Network Structure Supports the Production of Creative Metaphor
Li, Y., Kenett, Y. N., Hu, W., & Beaty, R. E. (2021) · Creativity Research Journal · doi:10.1080/10400419.2021.1879508 · Cited by 64
“Dichotomizing a continuous variable (e.g., metaphor creativity) might cause potential issues, such as loss of information about individual differences, overlooking nonlinear relationships, and decreasing the effect size and power (MacCallum et al., 2002).”
BackgroundQin, X., Ren, R., Zhang, Z.-X., & Johnson, R. E. (2014) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0038084 · Cited by 60
Implications of adolescents' acculturation strategies for personal and collective self-esteem.
Giang, M. T., & Wittig, M. A. (2006) · Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology · doi:10.1037/1099-9809.12.4.725 · Cited by 55
Metadata
- Authors
- MacCallum, R. C., Zhang, S., Preacher, K. J., & Rucker, D. D.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Methods
- Published
- 2002
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-40
- ISSN
- 1082-989X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1463
- OpenAlex
- W2108096958
- Semantic Scholar
- 67646d3def337c40bbfa2476f0f1ff785ae18242
- Cited by
- 3,538
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 282 · 2025: 170 · 2024: 149 · 2023: 134 · 2022: 183 · 2021: 211 · 2020: 204 · 2019: 179 · 2018: 180 · 2017: 223 · 2016: 208 · 2015: 208 · 2014: 184 · 2013: 187 · 2012: 138
- FWCI
- 55.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Psychological Methods (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KU ScholarWorks (The University of Kansas) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Keywords
- dichotomization, quantitative variables, statistical analysis, change of variables, measurement error
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Models, Psychological, Psychology
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