Now what happens is we've got these variables. And to see that, we are going to wear silly hats, because, in the real world, factors, although they're statistical entities, they do have stupid hats on.ĪNDY FIELD : So I am going to be factor 1. So we can take out three variables, and hopefully end up with slightly less linear variance.ĪNDY FIELD : So Zoe and I are going to represent linear variance. And hopefully, there's less linear components than there are variables. So what we try and do with factor analysis- We try to reduce lots and lots of variables into a set of linear components. Now, these variables are like a mass of confusing information, because there's too many of them. These balls are very, very variables.ĪNDY FIELD : So we have three variables. And these are special balls, because they are representing variables that you might have created. And to do this, I've enlisted the help of my glamorous wife, Zoe.ĪNDY FIELD : Sometimes when you collect large amounts of data, you have lots of variables. But before getting into the SPSS stuff, we would give you a little demonstration of what a factor analysis does.

Do factor analysis in spss 21