Distortions In A Commonly Used Factor Analytic Procedure.

A currently popular procedure in empirical factor analytic studies is to use unities in the main diagonal as communality estimates, extract all factors with eigenvalues of 1.0 or higher, and rotate these factors by varimax. This procedure and others are applied to several previously published correlation matrices and some artificial matrices. This procedure results in the retention of too many factors, unrealistic elevation of the amount of common factor variance analyzed, and distortions in the conclusions drawn from the factor analytic investigation. Ways of avoiding these difficulties, are discussed.