IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/sptchp/978-3-031-78070-7_14.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Factor Analysis

In: Applied Statistics and Multivariate Data Analysis for Business and Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Cleff

    (Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences)

Abstract

This chapter explores factor analysis, a statistical method used to reduce data in empirical research. It begins with an introduction to the foundational concepts of factor analysis, detailing its relevance and application across various fields. Using the example of attributes that consumers value in toothpaste, particular emphasis is placed on the use of factor analysis to reduce large sets of variables or item batteries in surveys. The nuances between principal component analysis and principal factor analysis are discussed, highlighting how they address different analytical needs by making different underlying theoretical assumptions. The chapter also covers advanced topics such as the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure, Bartlett's sphericity test, the correlation matrix to assess suitability for factor analysis, factor extraction techniques, the interpretation of eigenvalues, varimax rotation, factor loadings, communalities, factor scores. Furthermore, the use of factor analysis with software such as R, SPSS and Stata is demonstrated to enhance the reader’s understanding of how to perform such analyses can be carried out in applied scenarios.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Cleff, 2025. "Factor Analysis," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, in: Applied Statistics and Multivariate Data Analysis for Business and Economics, edition 0, chapter 0, pages 501-515, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sptchp:978-3-031-78070-7_14
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-78070-7_14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:sptchp:978-3-031-78070-7_14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.