PSYCH 2B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Correlation And Dependence, Factor Analysis, The Graphic

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 2B03
• Professor: Richard B Day

Document Summary

Sample correlation matrix: sample correlation matrix:as their name suggests factor analytic theories are based on a mathematical technique called factor analysis. In general, factor analysis identifies patterns of intercorrelated variables, and models how such patterns could be accounted for by hypothesizing a small number of factors underlying and contributing to the correlated variables. These three slides give an example of how the procedure works (using fictitious numbers, of course). We can then identify the group of variables (in red in the yellow box). The first factor: sample correlation matrix the first factor: one possible answer is that the value of each of these variables is determined (in part) by some common underlying characteristic or factor. Factor analysis produces a mathematical model of how one might account for intercorrelations among a set of variables by hypothesizing some set of underlying factors. Each factor is described mathematically as an equation (like that shown at the top of this slide).