Question

Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct regarding exploratory factor analysis (EFA) technique?

• A. It helps to reduce large number of variables into few numbers of factors.
• B. It helps researchers to investigate concepts that cannot easily be measured directly.
• C. It extracts maximum common variance from all variables and put them into a common score.
• D. A technique used to verify the factor structure of a set of observed variables.

Hint:

EFA helps in data reduction by grouping variables into factors that explain the observed variance, while CFA is used to test a hypothesized factor structure.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A, B, C

Step 1: Understanding Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA).
EFA is a statistical method used to reduce data by identifying underlying factors that explain correlations between observed variables. It is primarily used to simplify complex datasets.

Step 2: Analyzing the options.
- (A) Correct, EFA is used to reduce a large number of variables into a smaller set of factors, which helps to explain the underlying structure of the data.
- (B) Correct, EFA helps in uncovering latent variables or concepts that are not directly measurable.
- (C) Correct, EFA works by extracting the common variance from all variables, grouping them into factors that explain the variance.
- (D) Incorrect, this description is more aligned with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), which is used to verify the factor structure rather than explore it.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answers are (A), (B), and (C), as they accurately describe the purpose and function of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA).