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Influence curves for factor loadings
Author(s) -
Kwan C.W.,
Fung W. K.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
british journal of mathematical and statistical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.157
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 2044-8317
pISSN - 0007-1102
DOI - 10.1348/000711005x66923
Subject(s) - factor analysis , mathematics , econometrics , statistics , invariant (physics) , sample (material) , scale (ratio) , transformation (genetics) , scale factor (cosmology) , factor (programming language) , computer science , thermodynamics , physics , chemistry , biochemistry , cosmology , quantum mechanics , metric expansion of space , gene , dark energy , mathematical physics , programming language
Influence curves for the initial and rotated loadings are derived for the maximum likelihood factor analysis (MLFA) model. Cook's distances based on the empirical influence curves of factor loadings are proposed for the identification of influential observations. The distances are shown to be invariant under scale transformation and factor rotation. We find that an observation with a very large Cook's distance based on the sample influence curve may not necessarily exert an excessive influence on the factor loadings pattern but may change the ordering of the factors. The issue of the switching of factors is also studied by means of the empirical influence curve and factor scores.