How can you scale variables in factor analysis?

1 Why scale variables?

Scaling variables is important for factor analysis because it affects the estimation of factor loadings, which are the coefficients that measure how much each variable contributes to a factor. If your variables have different scales, some of them may dominate the factor solution and mask the underlying structure of the data. For example, if you have a variable that measures height in centimeters and another that measures weight in kilograms, the height variable will have a much larger variance and will likely have higher loadings than the weight variable. Scaling variables can help you avoid this problem and make your factor analysis more robust and interpretable.

3 Standardization vs normalization

Standardization and normalization have different effects on the factor analysis because they preserve or change the shape of the variable distributions. Standardization preserves the shape of the distribution, meaning that it does not alter the skewness or kurtosis of the variable. Normalization changes the shape of the distribution, making it more uniform and less skewed or kurtotic. This can affect the factor analysis results, especially if you use methods that rely on the assumption of normality, such as maximum likelihood or principal component analysis (PCA). If your variables are not normally distributed, standardization may be more appropriate than normalization, as it does not distort the original data. However, if your variables are normally distributed, normalization may be more suitable, as it can reduce the influence of outliers and improve the fit of the factor model.

4 How to choose a scaling method?

When deciding which scaling method to use for factor analysis, you should consider the type of data, the purpose of the analysis, and the criteria for evaluating the factor solution. For instance, if your variables are categorical or ordinal, you may not need to scale them. However, if your variables are continuous or interval, you may need to scale them. Additionally, if your variables are skewed or kurtotic, you may want to use standardization. On the other hand, if they are normal or close to normal, you may want to use normalization. Furthermore, depending on your goal of factor analysis - exploring the underlying structure of the data or reducing its dimensionality - you may opt for standardization or normalization respectively. Finally, when evaluating your factor solution with criteria such as Kaiser criterion or Akaike information criterion, normalization can prove useful in improving the fit and simplicity of the model.

5 How to scale variables in R?

If you want to scale variables in factor analysis using R, you can use the scale() function, which performs standardization by default. You can also specify the center and scale arguments to perform normalization or other types of scaling. For example, if you have a data frame called df with four variables, you can scale them using the following code:

# Standardize variables
df_scaled <- scale(df)
# Normalize variables
df_scaled <- scale(df, center = apply(df, 2, min), scale = apply(df, 2, max) - apply(df, 2, min))        

You can then perform factor analysis on the scaled data using the factanal() function or other packages, such as psych or lavaan.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?