Uses of Factor Analysis in Counseling Psychology Research

Factor analysis is an analytic technique that permits the reduction of a large number of correlated variables to a smaller number of latent dimensions. The goal of factor analysis is to achieve parsimony by using the smallest number of explanatory concepts to explain the maximum amount of common var...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of counseling psychology 1987-10, Vol.34 (4), p.414-424
Main Authors: Tinsley, Howard E. A, Tinsley, Diane J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Counseling Psychology
Experimentation
Factor Analysis
Human
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Summary:Factor analysis is an analytic technique that permits the reduction of a large number of correlated variables to a smaller number of latent dimensions. The goal of factor analysis is to achieve parsimony by using the smallest number of explanatory concepts to explain the maximum amount of common variance in a correlation matrix. In this article, we provide an overview of factor analysis techniques. We provide a conceptual explanation of factor analysis, a discussion of the relation of factor analysis to other multivariate techniques, and an explanation of characteristics of the data to consider in determining the appropriateness of factor analysis. We review considerations in making decisions about communality estimates, methods of factor extraction, the number of factors to rotate, and methods of factor rotation. We conclude with suggestions on how to interpret factor analysis results, calculate factor scores, and report factor analysis results.
ISSN:0022-0167
1939-2168
DOI:10.1037/0022-0167.34.4.414