Discrete Choice Methods
This article describes the statistical models commonly used to study discrete choices. It concentrates on the ‘basic’ discrete choice models, and the theoretical choice situations that lead to these models. Specifically the choice situation addressed include: the ordered choice situation and the unordered choice situation. In addition, the article discusses two extensions of the basic discrete choice models commonly seen in political science research — models allowing for heteroskedasticity in the choices made across political agents (such as the heteroskedastic probit), and models that estimate substitution patterns across choice alternatives (such as the multinomial probit and mixed logit). Suggestions for further reading are also given.