Solved – How to interpret a positive beta coefficient in linear regression

interpretationlinear modelregression coefficients

Could someone provide a sample interpretation for the following:

                                dependent variable
Categorial variable
 category 1                    Beta estimate of 1.78 (-3.39,6.69). 
 cat 2                         2.45 (-287, 9.34)
 cat 3                         4.49 (-3.65, 7.08)

Best Answer

It depends on whether you are using dummy coding or effect coding or some other coding. In dummy coding, a positive $\beta$ for a categorical variable means that the predicted value of the dependent variable is higher by $\beta$ when the independent variable takes that category than when it takes the reference category