Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2025
In descriptive factor analysis, the factor matrix is merely an alternate mode of expression of the meaning expressed by the correlation matrix. In inferential factor analysis, the factor matrix expresses material inferred from the correlation matrix but not contained in the correlation matrix. A major problem has been whether or not the latter type is possible. Granit's color cone study is interpreted as a factor study in the hope of showing that inferential factor analysis actually exists. It is argued that proof of these and other points in factor theory can be accomplished only by logical analysis.
This article was read before the Florida Psychological Association, 1953. It is based upon a portion of a dissertation submitted by the writer to the department of psychology of the University of Chicago in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree.