How to run the regression if the dependent variable is a ranking number?

[MR_Xishuai]

Hi all,

I am having a question about how to run the regression if the dependent variable is a ranking number?

For example, I want to look at what kind of factors will determine a person's education level. So my dependent variable:

EDUCATION= 1: PhD

                      2: Master

                      3: Undergraduate

                      4: High School

                      5: less than high school.

My independent variables are some continuous variables or dummy variables let's say: the person's IQ, his parent's salary...

I know that if the dependent is a dummy variable which has only 1 or 0, I can use Logit/Probit model. And if the dependent variable is categorical and cannot be ordered in any meaningful way, then I could use multinomial logistic regression.

But here the dependent variable has more than 2 categories and it is a rank which mean less value is better (for example, 1 is better than 5).

So how could I run this regression? Thanks a lot for you help.

[Rick_SAS]

You can run a cumulative logit model by using PROC LOGISTIC. I think the interpretation will be clearer if you reverse the encoding so that 1=less than high school and 5=PhD, but it isn't necessary.