PENALTY Subcommand (PREFSCAL command)

The PENALTY subcommand specifies the values for the penalty parameters. The two keywords can be used to set the strength and the range of the penalty. The penalty itself is based on the coefficient of variation of the transformed proximities.

LAMBDA. Strength parameter. This parameter sets the strength of the penalty. The default value is 0.75. The range of this parameter is between 0 (exclusive) and 1 (inclusive). The smaller the values of lambda, the stronger the penalty (and vice versa).

OMEGA. Range parameter. This parameter sets the range of the penalty (that is, the moment the penalty becomes active). The parameter must have a non-negative value. If OMEGA is 0, the penalty is inactive. Increasing OMEGA provides a more active penalty. By default (OMEGA = 1.0), the range is equal to the variation coefficient of the original proximities. If OMEGA is increased, the function will search for a solution with a higher variation of the transformed proximities

Example

PREFSCAL var01 TO var09
  /PENALTY = LAMBDA(0.5)
             OMEGA(2.0).

• In this example, the variation range is increased by setting OMEGA equal to 2.0.