Abstract
Factor analysis and principal component analysis are usually followed by simple structure rotations of the loadings. These rotations optimize a certain criterion (e.g., varimax, oblimin), designed to measure the degree of simple structure of the pattern matrix. Simple structure can be considered optimal if a (usually large) number of pattern elements is exactly zero. In the present paper, a class of oblique rotation procedures is proposed to rotate a pattern matrix such that it optimally resembles a matrix which has an exact simple pattern. It is demonstrated that this method can recover relatively complex simple structures where other well-known simple structure rotation techniques fail.
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This research has been made possible by a fellowship from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The author is obliged to Jos ten Berge for helpful comments on an earlier version.
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Kiers, H.A.L. Simplimax: Oblique rotation to an optimal target with simple structure. Psychometrika 59, 567–579 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294392
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294392