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Derivation of Theory by Means of Factor Analysis or Tom Swift and His Electric Factor Analysis Machine
Open accessAbstract
Problems in the use of factor analysis for deriving theory are illustrated by means of an example in which the underlying factors are known. The actual underlying model is simple and it provides a perfect explanation of the data. While the factor analysis 'explains' a large proportion of the total variance, it fails to identify the known factors in the model, The illustration is used to emphasize that factor analysis, by itself, may be misleading as far as the development of theory is concerned. The use of a comprehensive, and explicit à priori analysis is proposed so that there will be independent criteria for the evaluation of the factor analytic results.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Armstrong, J. S.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Armstrong, J. Scott
- Venue
- The American Statistician
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1967-12
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 17-21
- ISSN
- 0003-1305 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-2731
- OpenAlex
- W2107760749
- Cited by
- 165
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 2.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- repository.upenn.edu
- Locations
- The American Statistician (publishedVersion)
- Scholarly Commons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion)
- General Economics and Teaching (submittedVersion)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Applications
- Social Sciences › Education › Diverse Academic Research Areas
- Keywords
- factor analysis, theory development, a priori analysis, system identification, scientific method, Tom Swift
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