What is the factor score?

What is the factor score?

A factor score is a numerical value that indicates a person’s relative spacing or standing on a latent factor. In order to develop this definition further, however, we must draw a distinction that grew out of the indeterminacy debate between “factor scores” and “factor score estimates”.

Can you use factor scores in regression?

Thus factor scores are not usually suitable for use in linear regression analyses.

How are factor analysis scores used in regression?

In the multiple regression analysis applications, an estimation method based on the factor scores that were estimated from the factor analysis can be used to eliminate the limitations caused by the multicollinearity problem between the independent variables.

What does a score of 0 on a regression factor mean?

By construction, regression factor scores in SPSS are standardized. A score of 0 on a factor therefore means that this person’s ratings of the importance of the relevant attributes is close to the average for your sample.

How are scales’scores calculated in factor analysis?

Note that while this approach has been criticized, in psychology it is still common to compute “scales’ scores” by simply adding or averaging the ratings on the original variables. Factor analysis is only used to select and refine the subset of the original variables that constitute each scale.

Can a factor score be used as a dependent variable?

We also might use factor scores as explanatory variables in future analyses. It may even be of interest to use the factor score as the dependent variable in a future analysis. The methods for estimating factor scores depend on the method used to carry out the principal components analysis. The vectors of common factors f is of interest.

Which is the best method for estimating factor scores?

There are a number of different methods for estimating factor scores from the data. These include: Ordinary Least Squares Weighted Least Squares Regression method Ordinary Least Squares Section By default, this is the method that SAS uses if you use the principal component method.