Abstract
This chapter explains how exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used to explore common factors that account for participants’ responses to research instruments, such as Likert-type scale questionnaires and tests. It provides an overview of important aspects, considerations and practical guidelines for conducting EFA. This chapter compares and contrasts some differences and similarities among EFA, confirmatory factor analysis and principal component analysis. Key steps for EFA are presented through the use of IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences).
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Phakiti, A. (2018). Exploratory Factor Analysis. In: Phakiti, A., De Costa, P., Plonsky, L., Starfield, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_20
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