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CUB models: Statistical methods and empirical evidence

Maria Iannario and Domenico Piccolo

This chapter is devoted to a new class of statistical models, called CUB models, introduced for the purpose of interpreting and fitting ordinal responses. After a brief discussion of psychological foundations and statistical properties of such mixture random variables, CUB models are generalized by introducing subjects’ and objects’ covariates and also by taking account of contextual effects. Special emphasis is given to the graphical tools generated by such models which allow an immediate visualization of the effects of covariates with respect to space, time and circumstances. Some applications to ABC 2010 annual customer satisfaction survey data set and to students’ satisfaction with a university orientation service confirmed their usefu....