Multivariate Analysis

Multivariate analysis is the process of studying the relationships between more than two variables; essentially, one dependent variable and more than one independent variable. Bivariate analysis is a form of multivariate analysis. There are several forms of multivariate analysis that are important, but we will skip the details for now to restrict the scope of the chapter. In the next few chapters, we will take a closer look at linear and logistic regression, which are two popular multivariate analysis techniques.

Some of the most common techniques used in multivariate analysis are as follows:

• Multiple linear regression (studying the impact of more than one independent variable on a numeric/continuous target variable)
• Logistic regression (studying the impact of more than one independent variable on a categorical target variable)
• Factor analysis
• MANOVA