arbiter
JournalsAccount

ReMoDe – Recursive modality detection in distributions of ordinal data

Madlen Hoffstadt et al.

British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1111/bmsp.70037article
ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

The detection of the number of modes in distributions of ordinal data is relevant for applied researchers across disciplines, from uncovering polarization to detecting incidence groups in clinical symptom scales. Yet, established modality detection methods are either purely descriptive or not developed for ordinal data. In the present paper, we attempt to fill this gap by proposing a recursive modality detection method (ReMoDe) which detects modes in univariate distributions through recursive significance testing. We provide a comprehensive review of existing modality detection methods and outline their potential pitfalls when applied to ordinal scales. Based on a benchmark of 172 simulated ordinal samples of different sample sizes, we demonstrate that ReMoDe outperforms other established modality detection methods. We furthermore present a stability test for our method as well as p-values and approximated Bayes factors for each detected mode. To make our method easily applicable for researchers, we introduce open-source R and Python packages.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/bmsp.70037

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{madlen2026,
  title        = {{ReMoDe – Recursive modality detection in distributions of ordinal data}},
  author       = {Madlen Hoffstadt et al.},
  journal      = {British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/bmsp.70037},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

ReMoDe – Recursive modality detection in distributions of ordinal data

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.