Best Practices for Your Exploratory Factor Analysis: A Factor Tutorial

ABSTRACT

Context:

exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is one of the statistical methods most widely used in administration; however, its current practice coexists with rules of thumb and heuristics given half a century ago.

Objective:

the purpose of this article is to present the best practices and recent recommendations for a typical EFA in administration through a practical solution accessible to researchers.

Methods:

in this sense, in addition to discussing current practices versus recommended practices, a tutorial with real data on Factor is illustrated. The Factor software is still little known in the administration area, but is freeware, easy-to-use (point and click), and powerful. The step-by-step tutorial illustrated in the article, in addition to the discussions raised and an additional example, is also available in the format of tutorial videos.

Conclusion:

through the proposed didactic methodology (article-tutorial + video-tutorial), we encourage researchers/methodologists who have mastered a particular technique to do the same. Specifically about EFA, we hope that the presentation of the Factor software, as a first solution, can transcend the current outdated rules of thumb and heuristics, by making best practices accessible to administration researchers.

Keywords:
factor analysis; exploratory factor analysis; common factor analysis; principal component analysis; Factor