
Analyzing Software Measurement Data ◾ 255
6.3.7 Linear Regression
Having identied a relationship using box plots, scatter plots, or other
techniques, and having evaluated the strength of the association between
two variables, our next step is expressing the nature of the association in
some way. Linear regression is a popular and useful method for expressing
an association as a linear formula. e linear regression technique is based
on a scatter plot. Each pair of attributes is expressed as a data point, (x
i
, y
i
),
and then the technique calculates the line of best t among the points.
us, our goal is to express attribute y, the dependen ...