STP - Week 3
(Movie Data Set from McDaniel and Gates)
EXERCISE 1: Factor Analysis
This exercise uses factor analysis to explore how survey respondents consider various aspects
of a theatre visit.
1. Open the movie_dataset.sav file in SPSS.
2. Examine the variables for Q5 in the Variable View. Here we note that Q5 has nine sub-
questions, and each one of them is given an importance rating. It may be possible to identify
groupings of these questions representing underlying ‘factors’ perceived by respondents in
the data.
3. Let’s have a quick look at the different items. Invoke the ANALYZE DESCRIPTIVE
STATISTICS DESCRIPTIVES command. Move Q5a to Q5i into the Variable(s) box and
click OK. (a) Which item is the most important? (b) Which item is the least important?
It is a good idea to check that the minimum and maximum values for each variable are within
the proper range. A value that is out of range indicates either a data input error or a user-
defined missing value such as “Refused” or “Don’t Know.” Data input errors should be
corrected or deleted. User-defined missing values should be declared in SPSS.
Multivariate techniques require every variable have a legitimate value. If a respondent did not
answer every question, then the analyst must either ignore the observation entirely or impute
estimates for the missing values. The default for statistical software is to ignore those
observations automatically. This is the approach we will take in this exercise.
4. Invoke the ANALYZE DIMENSION REDUCTION FACTOR command.
• Drag Q5a to Q5i into the Variables box.
• Click the Descriptives button,
o place a tick next to KMO and Bartlett’s test of sphericity
o Tick Univeriate descriptions
o Coefficients
o then click Continue.
• Click the Extraction button, place a tick next to Scree plot and Based on Eigenvalues
then click Continue.
• Click the Rotation button, click the radio button for Varimax then click Continue.
• Click the Options button. Place a tick next to Sorted by size. In addition, untick
Suppress absolute values less than
• SPSS produces a lot of output Factor Analysis. It is possible to create much more
output than we have generated here by setting various subcommands and options.
(a) How many factors did SPSS create?
(b) Why did it stop at that number?
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(c) How could you change the defaults to create a different number of factors?
Hint: Click on the Extraction button and click the radio button and type the desired
number in the box next to the Fixed number of factors, Factors to extract: option. Click
OK.
(d) Go to the Output window. Find the table entitled Total Variance Explained. How
much variance was explained in this Factor Analysis?
(e) Go to the output entitled Rotated Component Matrix. Why are some of the elements in
this matrix blank?
(f) Do the components or factors make sense?
5. Let us now consider the interpretation of our factor analysis results.
(a) Is this a good factor solution? Why do you say that?
(b) How might you create a better factor solution?
(c) What understanding has this analysis helped you to gain about how cinema customers
perceive their cinema experience?
(d) What recommendations would you give a manager of a cinema company based on this
analysis?
