{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T17:29:31Z","timestamp":1773768571692,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,6]],"date-time":"2017-01-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1483660800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In the research and data analysis of the differences involved in group preferences, conventional statistical methods cannot reflect the integrity and preferences of human minds; in particular, it is difficult to exclude humans\u2019 irrational factors. This paper introduces a preference amount model based on relative entropy theory. A related expansion is made based on the characteristics of the questionnaire data, and we also construct the parameters to measure differences in the data distribution of different groups on the whole. In this paper, this parameter is called the center distance, and it effectively reflects the preferences of human minds. Using the survey data of securities market participants as an example, this paper analyzes differences in market participants\u2019 attitudes toward the effectiveness of securities regulation. Based on this method, differences between groups that were overlooked by analysis of variance are found, and certain aspects obscured by general data characteristics are also found.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e19010024","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,6]],"date-time":"2017-01-06T10:08:12Z","timestamp":1483697292000},"page":"24","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Constructing a Measurement Method of Differences in Group Preferences Based on Relative Entropy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Shiyu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Management College, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100101, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wenzhi","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Management College, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100101, China"},{"name":"Institute of Transportation Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qin","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Management College, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100101, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xuguang","family":"Hao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International business school, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Fowler, F.J. 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