0

Can the coefficient of an independent variable in a multiple regression model be greater than the dependent variable units? E.g. if my dep. var. is categorical (10 scale), does it make sense if one of the coefficients in the model is 12.35 (statistically significant), and if so, how? Because how could a one unit increase in a predictor variable could increase the outcome var. by 12 points if there are 10 points in total? Hope this makes sense and thank you very much in advance!

Alice
  • 1
  • 2
    Every ton of food I consume each year above the normal level increases my mass by 10,000 grams: the coefficient is 10,000 (grams of fat per ton of food). By choosing suitable units of measurement, you can make your coefficients as large or small in magnitude as you please. More interestingly, even when you standardize your variables (which prevents such manipulation) you can obtain standardized coefficients with magnitudes above $1.0$ in a multiple regression. – whuber Jan 19 '23 at 23:35
  • Thank you for your reply! To make my question more clear, I’m trying to predict how research productivity (dep. var.) is affected by various predictor variables including having children. 1 is productivity least affected and 10 is most affected. The coefficient for having children (rather than not having any) is 12.35, which means that having children increases the reported negative impact on research productivity by 12.35 points, keeping other variables constant. What I’m wondering is, how could productivity be increased by 12 points if the maximum no. of units is 10? Many thanks again! – Alice Jan 20 '23 at 00:34
  • That sounds like a question to put to researchers in your field. How do you hope that a purely mathematical answer could tell you about productivity and children?? – whuber Jan 20 '23 at 14:12
  • It sounds like your 10-point scale is a response variable, not a predictor? How did you code this model? – kjetil b halvorsen Jan 22 '23 at 01:46

0 Answers0