Viewing and visualizing the factor loadings
Each fa() results object is actually a list, and each element of the list contains specific information about the analysis, including factor loadings. Factor loadings represent the strength and directionality of the relationship between each item and the underlying factor, and they can range from -1 to 1.
You can also create a diagram of loadings. The fa.diagram() function takes a result object from fa() and creates a path diagram showing the items’ loadings ordered from strongest to weakest. Path diagrams are more common for structural equation modeling than for factor analysis, but this type of visualization can be a helpful way to represent your results.
This exercise is part of the course
Factor Analysis in R
Exercise instructions
- View the items' factor loadings by accessing the
loadingselement of the results object. These values show the strength and direction of their relationships. - Then, visualize the EFA results in a path diagram.
Hands-on interactive exercise
Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.
# Set up the single-factor EFA
EFA_model <- fa(gcbs)
# View the factor loadings
EFA_model$___
# Create a path diagram of the items' factor loadings
fa.diagram(___)