Standardized Discriminant Coefficients: Which Variance Estimate Is Appropriate?

The authors discuss standardization procedures in discriminant analysis and compare three leading statistical software packages in terms of their calculations of unstandardized and standardized discriminant coefficients. They describe estimation procedures in each and point out inconsistencies that could lead to the misinterpretation of data. They present arguments that favor using within-group—rather than total—variance estimates to calculate standardized discriminant coefficients.