Exploratory Factor Analysis with SAS

Basic Syntax for EFA

The FACTOR procedure is used to conduct EFA in SAS. You must be careful when conducting an EFA in SAS because the FACTOR procedure is also used to conduct PCA—if you do not specify an extraction method or if you just select one of the extraction options, you could end up with a PCA and not an EFA! Below is a brief summary of the syntax and the basic options available. We will delve into further details and options in the chapters to come.

PROC FACTOR   DATA = dataset-name               
         NFACTORS = number-of-factors-to-retain
         METHOD = factor-extraction-method
         ROTATE = rotation-method;
   VAR variables-to-include;
               RUN;

In the above syntax, you would specify all of the arguments that are highlighted. You would identify the data set to use for ...