A principal components analysis was run and the following eigenvalue results were obtained: 2.731,2.218,.442,.341,.183,and .085.How many factors would you retain using the eigenvalues to determine the number of factors?
A)one
B)two
C)four
D)six

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The rule of thumb for determining the number of factors to retain is to only retain factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. In this case, there are two factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 (2.731 and 2.218), so we would retain two factors (Choice B). The other factors with eigenvalues less than 1 would not contribute significantly to explaining the variance in our data.

A Principal Components Analysis Was Run and the Following Eigenvalue