Factor Analysis

Okay, we know how most students feel about statistics, so we will make this as quick and painless as possible. Factor analysis is a type of statistical procedure that is conducted to identify clusters or groups of related items (called factors) on a test. For example, when you take a multiple choice Introductory Psychology test, a factor analysis can be done to see what types of questions you did best on and worst on (maybe they did best on factual types of questions but really poorly on conceptual types of questions). That wasn't too bad was it?