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Pragmatic treatment of improper solutions in factor analysis

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Summary

In the application of factor analysis to empirical data, a statistical test almost always indicates more factors than researchers expect. However, if one more factor is tried to be extracted, proper solutions cannot be obtained frequently and several problems arise.

This paper investigates causes of the problems and proposes a pragmatic treatment of improper solutions. Further, some recommendations are made on the practical application of factor analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Manabu Sato

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  1. Manabu Sato
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Additional information

This research was supported in part by Grand-in-Aid for Scientific Research of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture under Contract Number 61730015 and 61530017.

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Sato, M. Pragmatic treatment of improper solutions in factor analysis. Ann Inst Stat Math 39, 443–455 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02491481

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02491481

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