- Find the common factors.graph image by Roman Sigaev from Fotolia.com
Factor analysis is a statistical method for studying processes---psychological, mathematical, economic---where there appear to be dozens or even hundreds of variables affecting operations. By analyzing and studying the variables statistically, factor analysis can separate out a few core variables, known as factors, that control the rest. Concentrating on the factors makes analyzing the process much simpler. - Cornell University researcher Richard Darlington reports that psychologist Charles Spearman invented factor analysis to show how all our mental abilities---imagination, creativity, logic, memory, mathematic ability and so on---were controlled by one core variable representing our essential intelligence. Science discredited Spearman's particular theory---though not his statistical approach---but other researchers have continued efforts to reduce our mental operations to a few core factors.
- In 1986, Darlington says, psychologist Amy Rubenstein surveyed junior high-school students about their interest in things, such as trying new food or figuring out how machines work. Using factor analysis, Rubenstein found seven core factors she said can be used to calculate people's level of curiosity: Interest in natural science, interest in art, interest in new experiences, enthusiasm for reading, love of learning, enjoyment of problem solving, and low interest in money.
- Duke University chemists Charles E. Reese and C. H. Lochmüller say factor analysis is valuable for figuring out the controlling variables in different chemical tests, such as what makes different quantities of different solutions absorb different amounts of ultraviolet light. Another example would be scientists trying to find the factors that affect how different compounds in different solutions react in chromatographic experiments.
- An article in the Southern Journal of Economics reports that factor analysis has been used to study modernization in India and price analysis in business, and to review market studies of the Midwestern dairy industry. Other researchers have used factor analysis to study rising interest in tech stocks in Japan and student attitudes toward economics education.
- R.J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii says that factor analysis is helpful to analyze the many variables in international conflict and peacemaking. For example, factor analysis can help make sense of the interaction between variables, such as various nations' defense budgets, their relationship with the United States, their international trade and the stability of the governments involved.
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