multidimensional scaling: Using SPSS/PROXSCAL. Multidimensional scaling attempts to find the structure in a set of proximity measures between objects. This process is accomplished by assigning observations to specific locations in a conceptual low-dimensional space such that the distances between points in the space match the given (dis)similarities as closely as possible. The result is a least-squares representation of the objects in that low-dimensional space, which, in many cases, will help you to further understand your data.