How would you differentiate between principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA)?
A) PCA is concerned with explaining the maximum amount of total variance, whilst FA is concerned with covariance.
B) FA is concerned with explaining the maximum amount of total variance, whilst PCA is concerned with covariance.
C) PCA and FA are essentially the same thing, but PCA relates to psychology, whereas FA relates specifically to motor control.
D) PCA and FA are essentially the same thing, but FA relates to psychology, whereas PCA relates specifically to motor control.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

PCA is used to identify the underlying structure in a data set by reducing the number of variables while retaining the most amount of information, i.e., variance. The goal of PCA is to maximize the total variance, and it's concerned with the covariance between variables. On the other hand, factor analysis is used to identify the latent variables that underlie observable variables, i.e., factors, that are responsible for the correlations between observed variables. The goal of FA is to explain the maximum amount of total variance, and it's concerned with the inter-correlation between variables.

How Would You Differentiate Between Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Factor