Applying Relative Distribution Methods in R

Abstract

Relative distribution methods are a nonparametric statistical approach to the comparison of distributions. These methods combine the graphical tools of exploratory data analysis with statistical summaries, decomposition, and inference.

This report demonstrates software for implementing relative distribution methods within the R statistical package. It describes how to download and install the software, and use it to redo the analysis in the paper ‘Relative Distribution Methods’ by Mark S. Handcock and Martina Morris, Sociological Methodology, Vol 28, July 1998. The full code, references and links to further resources are provided.