Standardization and decomposition of rates from cross-classified data.

"Social scientists have traditionally used the technique of direct standardization to eliminate the compositional effects from the overall rates. The technique of decomposition deals with finding the additive contributions of the effects of the differences in the compositional or rate factors in two populations to the difference in their overall rates. The subjects of standardization and decomposition are strictly linked. The paper provides explicit expressions for the standardized rates and the effects of the factors involved, when the rates are calculated from cross-classified data. The techniques are illustrated by numerical examples, and a general program is provided for data up to six factors." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND ITA) excerpt