In probability theory and statistics, Goodman & Kruskal's lambda (
where
Values for lambda range from zero (no association between independent and dependent variables) to one (perfect association).
Weaknesses
Although Goodman and Kruskal's lambda is used to calculate association between variables, it yields a value of 0 (no association) whenever two variables are in accord—that is, when the modal category is the same for all values of the independent variable, even if the modal frequencies or percentages vary. Consider the table below, which describes a fictitious sample of 350 individuals, categorized by relationship status and blood pressure.
For this sample,
even though the data demonstrate a pronounced relationship between the independent and dependent variables.