Factor Analysis -------------------------------------------- **Introduction** *"Factor Analysis is a method for modeling observed variables, and their covariance structure, in terms of a smaller number of underlying unobservable (latent) “factors.” The factors typically are viewed as broad concepts or ideas that may describe an observed phenomenon."* ([Linked from Penn State on 6/27/2018][1]) ---------- **Methodology & Applications** - Process of data analysis with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) (SAS): - [Exploratory or Confirmatory Factor Analysis? (Suhr, 2006)][2] - The *Psych* Package in R Studio - [An Overivew of the *Psych* Package (Revelle, 2017)][3] - Dealing with the common situation of analysing ordinal data as derived from Likert-type scales. - [Improving Your Exploratory Factor Analysis for Ordinal Data: A Demonstration Using FACTOR. (Baglin, 2014)][4] - Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for examining relations among ordinal variables (e.g., Likert-type items). - [An Empirical Evaluation of Alternative Methods of Estimation for Confirmatory Factor Analysis With Ordinal Data. (Flora & Curran, 2004)][5] - Ordinal Explortatory Factor Analysis - [Improving Your Exploratory Factor Analysis for Ordinal Data: A Demonstration Using FACTOR. (Baglin, 2014)][6] [1]: https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat505/node/74/ [2]: http://www2.sas.com/proceedings/sugi31/200-31.pdf [3]: http://personality-project.org/r/overview.pdf [4]: https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:24699 [5]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3153362/ [6]: https://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=19&n=5