# Ordinal Logistic Regression in R - BIC calculation

I am working on an Ordinal logistic regression model. I have an outcome variable with 4 categories and they are ordered. My predictor or explanatory variables are 11 in number with the 11th predictor being a categorical variable with 4 levels.

I am taking a stepwise addition approach where in I am starting by adding one predictor in the model and proceeding to include or exclude further predictors depending on BIC statistics. I am including or excluding variables i.e. predictors in the model depending on the comparison of individual model BIC values.

However, as I build my model using 11th predictor, I get an error that "attempt to find suitable starting values failed" and a warning message that "glm.fit: algorithm did not converge".

The output is pasted below for your reference:

model2.11 <- polr(formula = Q13 ~ Q11, data = mydata13, method = "logistic")
Error in polr(formula = Q13 ~ Q11, data = mydata13, method = "logistic") :
attempt to find suitable starting values failed