Re: basic que-Factor Analysis

Posted by news on Aug 17, 2011; 3:02pm
URL: http://spssx-discussion.165.s1.nabble.com/basic-que-Factor-Analysis-tp4706531p4708606.html

Mehul,

You might look at

Anna B. Costello and Jason W. Osborne:
Best Practices in Exploratory Factor Analysis: Four Recommendations for
Getting the Most From Your Analysis
http://pareonline.net/pdf/v10n7.pdf

the tutorials of A.J.Schwab , U of Texas :
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/schwab/sw388r7/SolvingProblems/PrincipalComponentAnalysis.ppt
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/schwab/sw388r7/SolvingProblems/PrincipalComponentAnalysis_Outliers_Validation_Reliability.ppt

Jae-On Kim, Charles W. Mueller :
Factor Analysis. Statistical Methods and Practical Issues
Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences
Volume 14
Sage

Jae-On Kim,  Charles W. Mueller:
Introduction to Factor Analysis. What It Is and How To Do It
Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences
1978
to get some ideas of the conditions and limits.

HTH
Dr Frank Thomas
FTR Internet Research
Rosny-sous-Bois
France


On 17/08/2011 04:16, Mehul Pajwani wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am trying to run (for the first time) factor analysis in SPSS.18 and
> would appreciate any feedback and recommendations from seasoned SPSS
> users and statisticians on the following
>
> I started with 93 continuous variables (5-point, 6-point and 7-point
> rating scale type questions) and trying to reach to a reasonable
> factor solution. Here are key questions I am struggling with.
>
> 1) I started with 93 variables. Are these too many variables to start
> with? Is there any guideline about (minimum and maximum) number of
> variables?
>
> 2) Though all variables I am using are continuous (rating scale) they
> are of different scale points and types (e.g. 5-point ratings where
> 1=Strongly Disagree and 5=Strongly Agree; 6-point scale where 1=Will
> not influence at all and 6=Will strongly influence etc.).  I
> understand that this will have very different variance and therefore
> can possible affect the results. Having said that do I need to
> standardize these variables or factors analysis will automatically
> take care of it?
>
> 3) I selected an option for Rotated Component Matrix but it failed to
> produce that with the message “Rotation failed to converge in 25
> iterations. (Convergence = .001).” Surprisingly, I ran the factor
> analysis with the same data couple days before (with 92 variables, I
> guess) and it did produce Rotated Component Matrix.  Any thoughts on
> why it is showing that error and how to handle this?
>
> 4) My ultimate goal is to identify broader dimensions based on factor
> analysis and then use these composite variables for the segmentation
> by doing cluster analysis. Is this the right approach for the
> segmentation?
>
> I would appreciate any help on this.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mehul
>
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