This Article Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Arrindell, W. A. Articles by van der Ende, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

An Empirical Test of the Utility of the Observations-To-Variables Ratio in Factor and Components Analysis

Jan van der Ende

University of Groningen, Oostersingel 59, 9713 EZ Groningen, The Netherlands

Many researchers have proposed a minimum ratio of observations to variables or an absolute minimum of observations in order to obtain stable factor config urations. However, hardly any empirical studies em ploying real data are available that attest to the tena bility of these proposals. A systematic analysis of the problem was undertaken, using self-report data from two large phobic samples on the Fear Survey Sched ule-III (N = 1104) and the Fear Questionnaire (N = 960). The data sets were randomly split into subsam ples with ratios varying from 1.3:1 to 19.8:1. Neither the observations to variables ratio nor an absolute minimum of observations had any influence on factor stability.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F. Nasser, J. Benson, and J. Wisenbaker The Performance of Regression-Based Variations of the Visual Scree for Determining the Number of Common Factors Educational and Psychological Measurement, June 1, 2002; 62(3): 397 - 419. [Abstract] [PDF]

				L. Rew Acknowledging Intuition in Clinical Decision Making J Holist Nurs, June 1, 2000; 18(2): 94 - 108. [Abstract] [PDF]