Methodological synthesis of research using multi-dimensional analysis

Abstract

Since 1984 when Douglas Biber first conducted a multi-dimensional (MD) analysis, MD analyses have expanded in scope. However, there has yet to be a comprehensive survey of this body of research. This methodological synthesis conducts a large-scale survey of MD analyses dating back to Biber’s (1984) dissertation. An unprecedented total of 230 studies including peer-reviewed articles and dissertations were coded for a variety of study characteristics and methodological choices. The results of this survey show that researchers have made a wide variety of methodological decisions including the choice of tagger, factor loading and communality cut-off values, and types of additional statistical analyses conducted. It was also found that reporting practices of MD analyses have been less than optimal, lacking information necessary for the replicability of the study. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for future MD analyses in relation to reporting practices and the goals of future studies.