Factor Analysis

Abstract

Factor Analysis is a ‘data reduction’ statistical technique that allows us to simplify the correlational relationships between a number of continuous variables. As demonstrated in Module 7, the correlation procedure can be used to generate a correlation matrix — the correlations of a large number of variables, each with all the others. Once a correlation matrix is produced, however, it can be difficult systematically to identify reliable patterns of correlation between the variables. Factor analytic techniques are a solution to this type of problem, allowing us to look at the patterns that underlie the correlations between a number of variables.