R help - Dec 2012 - In factor analysis in the psych package, how can I work out which factors the columns in $scores relate to? How do I know what each of the scores is scoring?

Hi
I have used fa() to perform a factor analysis of a psychological battery which
is thought to have 11 factors.  I can identify which factors the loadings relate
to easily enough because I can see which items are loading onto each of the
columns in the $loading output.  However, how can I identify which items or
loadings are being used to create each of the columns in the $scores output?  I
have used generalised linear models which have shown that some of the scores are
significant predictors of treatment outcome, but I can't work out which of
the 11 factors they are scoring?

when I export to csv the $loadings I get the following columns in this order:
 MR4, MR3, MR2, MR6, MR7, MR5, MR1, MR8, MR10, MR9, MR11 

When I export to csv the $scores I get the following columns in this order:
V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, V8, V9, V10,V11 

Are the scores in the column V1 derived from the loadings in column MR1 ?  
Or are the scores in the first column of $scores (ie V1) derived from the
loadings in the first column of $loadings (ie MR4)?

Thank you very much for your guidance, and your patience with my confusion
Best wishes
Brent


Brent Caldwell, MBChB, DPH, MPH.
Research Fellow
Department of Medicine
University of Otago, Wellington
New Zealand
U  brent.caldwell at otago.ac.nz
b  04 918 6041
   021 87 22 64
  23a Mein Street, PO Box 7343, Newtown, WELLINGTON 6021, NEW ZEALAND
brent.ower.caldwell
  Zonnic study

Without seeing what options you have specified in your call to fa(), it is
not possible to answer the question. There are detailed discussions in ?fa
and ?factor.scores in the psych package, but for the final word you should
probably contact the package maintainer: 

Package: psych
Version: 1.2.8
Date: 2012-08-08
Title: Procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality
        Research
Author: William Revelle <revelle at northwestern.edu>
Maintainer: William Revelle <revelle at northwestern.edu>

----------------------------------------------
David L Carlson
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4352
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-
> project.org] On Behalf Of Brent Caldwell
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 2:53 PM
> To: r-help at R-project.org
> Subject: [R] In factor analysis in the psych package, how can I work
> out which factors the columns in $scores relate to? How do I know what
> each of the scores is scoring?
> 
> Hi
> I have used fa() to perform a factor analysis of a psychological
> battery which is thought to have 11 factors.  I can identify which
> factors the loadings relate to easily enough because I can see which
> items are loading onto each of the columns in the $loading output.
> However, how can I identify which items or loadings are being used to
> create each of the columns in the $scores output?  I have used
> generalised linear models which have shown that some of the scores are
> significant predictors of treatment outcome, but I can't work out which
> of the 11 factors they are scoring?
> 
> when I export to csv the $loadings I get the following columns in this
> order:
>  MR4, MR3, MR2, MR6, MR7, MR5, MR1, MR8, MR10, MR9, MR11
> 
> When I export to csv the $scores I get the following columns in this
> order:
> V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, V8, V9, V10,V11
> 
> Are the scores in the column V1 derived from the loadings in column MR1
> ?
> Or are the scores in the first column of $scores (ie V1) derived from
> the loadings in the first column of $loadings (ie MR4)?
> 
> Thank you very much for your guidance, and your patience with my
> confusion
> Best wishes
> Brent
> 
> 
> Brent Caldwell, MBChB, DPH, MPH.
> Research Fellow
> Department of Medicine
> University of Otago, Wellington
> New Zealand
> U  brent.caldwell at otago.ac.nz
> b  04 918 6041
>    021 87 22 64
>   23a Mein Street, PO Box 7343, Newtown, WELLINGTON 6021, NEW ZEALAND
> brent.ower.caldwell
>   Zonnic study
> 
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