Constrained canonical correlation

This paper explores some of the problems associated with traditional canonical correlation. A response surface methodology is developed to examine the stability of the derived linear functions, where one wishes to investigate how much the coefficients can change and still be in an -neighborhood of the globally optimum canonical correlation value. In addition, a discrete (or constrained) canonical correlation method is formulated where the derived coefficients of these linear functions are constrained to be in some small set, e.g., {1, 0, –1}, to aid in the interpretation of the results. An example concerning the psychographic responses of Wharton MBA students of the University of Pennsylvania regarding driving preferences and life-style considerations is provided.Wayne S. DeSarbo, Robert Jausman, Shen Lin, and Wesley Thompson are all Members of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories. We wish to express our gratitude to the editor and reviewers of this paper for their insightful remarks.