对于一个自变量是分类变量Categorical Factor的回归模型,需要为该Factor的每个Level创建dummy variable。Contrast Matrix把每个Level映射为dummy variable的值。
我们看一个例子来感性认识下dummy variable和contrast matrix。
> library(datasets)
> str(ChickWeight)
Classes ‘nfnGroupedData’, ‘nfGroupedData’, ‘groupedData’ and 'data.frame': 578 obs. of 4 variables:
$ weight: num 42 51 59 64 76 93 106 125 149 171 ...
$ Time : num 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 ...
$ Chick : Ord.factor w/ 50 levels "18"<"16"<"15"<..: 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 ...
$ Diet : Factor w/ 4 levels "1","2","3","4": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
- attr(*, "formula")=Class 'formula' length 3 weight ~ Time | Chick
.. ..- attr(*, ".Environment")=
- attr(*, "outer")=Class 'formula' length 2 ~Diet
.