An Empirical Comparison Of Two Minimum Residual Factor Extraction Methods

Comrey and Harman & Jones have proposed different methods of factor analyzing a correlation matrix using on!y the off-diagonal elements. The purpose of such procedures is to avoid using the diagonal communality elements of the matrix theft are generally unknown and must be estimated. This study was undertaken to provide an empirical comparison of the two methods. The Comrey method was considerably faster but the Harman & Jones method produced higher derived communalities. Both methods gave very similar empirical rotated solutions. Implications of the results are discussed. This study was carried out in response to a question (personal communication) posed by Professor Jura Nunnally about the nature of the Comrey and Harman-Jones solutions. The authors wish to express their thanks to Harry Harman for providing a copy of his minres computer program.