contr.diff: Contrast function for factors with ordered values that yields increment coefficients
Description
Function contr.diff is a contrast function for factors with ordered values.
Coefficients for factors formatted with contr.diff are the increments
from the current level to the neighbouring lower level.
Usage
contr.diff(n, contrasts = TRUE)
Value
a matrix with a row for each level and a column for each dummy variable
(when applied to a factor in a linear model).
Arguments
n
vector of levels or integer number of levels
contrasts
logical indicating whether contrasts should be computed
Author
Ulrike Groemping, BHT Berlin
Details
The design matrix for an ordered factor formatted with contr.diff consists of ones
for the current level itself and all lower levels. Thus, the estimated coefficients
for each level are the estimated differences to the next lower level.
With this coding, the matrix ui in functions of package ic.infer
can be chosen as the identity matrix for monotonicity constraints on the factor.
See Also
See also ic.test, ic.est,
orlm, contrasts for other contrast
functions