The statements in 2) represent common but
far from universal opinions. The distinction
between different kinds of factor analysis
and the idea that factors are best rotated
are both contentious.
It is not advice anyone usually wants to hear,
but I would advise any newcomer against any public use of factor
analysis until you have learned more about
some of the debates on these points and sampled
literature from more than one discipline or faction.
Nick
[email protected]
Diego Bassani
> I am still running stata 8. that was the old way then. I'm outdated!!!
> 1)What kind of factor analysis are you trying to perform:
> exploratory or confirmatory?
>
> 2)If we are talking about exploratory, you should try to
> rotate the coefficients. It causes the item loads to be best
> distributed and eases the interpretation of your 'new'
> factors. In other words, the structure of the factors become
> way more clear when the vectors are rotated. If you have
> stata manuals, check them. The factor analysis section is
> pretty helpful when you are starting.
> Also, you should only score the factors after rotation - or
> score rotated factors, it appears, in stata 9.
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