Course Details in 2018/19 Session

Module Title	LM Factor Analysis
School	COS - College Hub
Department	COS - College Hub
Module Code	08 21874
Module Lead	Prof Stephen Gorard, Prof Stephen McKay
Level	Masters Level
Credits	10
Semester	Full Term
Pre-requisites	LM Multivariate Linear + Logistic Regression - (08 21873)
Co-requisites
Restrictions	MA Social Research
Exclusions
Description	It is often helpful to reduce a larger number of variables down to a smaller number - such as reducing a series of attitudes to one (or only a few) underlying dimensions. The technique of factor analysis, and its close relation principal components analysis, provide the tools for such a task. These are often used to help understand the structure of data, and are a popular way to generate scales for further analysis as well as summarising data. Compared to other statistical techniques there is potentially a greater role for decisions made by the investigator, and so the importance of transparency will be emphasised.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students will be able to: critique published research using factor analysis conduct their own factor analysis in SPSS (or possibly in another package) be aware of key issues including factor rotation and the selection of an appropriate number of factors understand the limitations of this approach, and the use of a variety of diagnostic tools be aware of how to communicate the results of such models to social science audiences
Assessment	21874-01 : 2000 word report : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: Assignment: 2,000 word report Reassessment: Resubmission of summative assignment
Other	None
Reading List