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A Loss Function for Alpha Factor Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Gerhard Derflinger*
Affiliation:
University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, Austria
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Prof. G. Derflinger, Institute of Statistics, University of Economics and Business Administration, Augasse 2-6, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.

Abstract

Most of the factor solutions can be got by minimizing a corresponding loss function. However, up to now, a loss function for the alpha factor analysis (AFA) has not been known. The present paper establishes such a loss function for the AFA. Some analogies to the maximum likelihood factor analysis are discussed.

Type
Original Paper
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

The author is greatly indebted to Prof. Henry F. Kaiser (University of California, Berkeley) for his kind encouragement. He is also indebted to an anonymous referee of Psychometrika for having confronted him with the problem in 1977. Financial support by the Wiener Hochschuljubiläumsstiftung is gratefully acknowledged.

References

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