Date:         Tue, 2 May 2000 12:33:02 -0500
Reply-To:     "Nichols, David" <nichols@SPSS.COM>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Nichols, David" <nichols@SPSS.COM>
Subject:      Re: ML Factor Analysis

The percent of variance accounted for in SPSS FACTOR in existing releases is
always percent of total variance. More recent releases give percents for
rotated factors, but for older releases, it's done only for the extracted
factors prior to rotation.

David Nichols
Principal Support Statistician and
Manager of Statistical Support
SPSS Inc.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kary Jessup [mailto:kary_j_1999@YAHOO.COM]
> Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 2:50 PM
> To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [SPSSX-L] ML Factor Analysis
>
>
> A scale was developed that was believed to consist of
> three conceptual factors.  Was it appropriate to apply
> maximum likelihood factor analysis to the data with
> the request of 3 factors to determine if the
> conceptual factors were supported empirically?  Would
> it have been better to do some other type of factor
> analysis?
>
> Also, I have an SPSS release 6.0 version that reports
> the percent of variance accounted for by each factor.
> I dont know if this is common variance or Total
> variance (error and specific variance). What variance
> is reported for maximum likelihood factor analysis?
>
> I would appreciate any assistance that could be
> provided.
> Thanks
>