The measurement error in principal components extracted from a set of fallible measures is discussed and evaluated. It is shown that as long as one or more measures in a given set of observed variables contains error of measurement, so also does any principal component obtained from the set. The error variance in any principal component is shown…

Results of empirical comparisons of an inferential model of order analysis with factor analytic models were reported for two sets of data. On the prestructured data set both order and factor analytic models returned its dimensions of length, width and height, but on the random data set the factor analytic models indicated the presence of…

A stepwise canonical procedure, including two selection indices for variable deletion and a rule for stopping the iterative procedure, was derived as a method of selecting core variables from predictors and criteria. The procedure was applied to simulated data varying in the degree of built in structures in population correlation matrices, number…

Results of using multimethod factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis for the analysis of three multitrait-multimethod matrices are compared. Results suggest that the two methods can give quite different impressions of discriminant validity. In the examples considered, the former procedure tends to support discrimination while the latter…

Methods for analyzing the multitrait-multimethod matrix are reviewed and the results of their application to a classic data set are compared. It is shown that different analysis methods can yield different validity conclusions, and that the results obtained are partly dependent on the subjective judgments of the users. (Author/RC)

The optimum weighting of variables to predict a dependent-criterion variable is an important problem in nearly all of the social and natural sciences. Although the predominant method, multiple regression analysis (MR), yields optimum weights for the sample at hand, these weights are not generally optimum in the population from which the sample was…

In this paper 12 blind transformation procedures are applied to 18 data sets. The results of the analyses indicate that the orthotran transformation solution is not restricted to particular types of data as are so many other transformation solutions. The evidence presented in this paper strongly suggests that the orthotran solution must be…