[R] factor analysis and pattern matrix

Steven Lacey slacey at umich.edu
Mon Mar 5 23:12:49 CET 2007


Hi, 

In a discussion of factor analysis in "Using Multivariate Statistics" by
Tabachnick and Fidell, two matrices are singled out as important for
interpreting an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with an oblique promax
rotation. One is the "structure matrix". The structure matrix contains the
correlations between variables and factors. However, these correlations may
be inflated because some of the variance in a factor may not be unique to
it. To address this and facilitate the interpretation of factors, the
"pattern matrix" can be calculated as it contains the unique correlations
between variables and factors (that is, the variance shared among factors
has been removed). 

Are the loadings returned from factanal() with a promax rotation the
structure or the pattern matrix? How do I calculate which ever one of the
matrices is not returned by factanal?

Thanks,

Steve



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