EDB 9080 Assignment 1

1. Download the Factor Data from the following link (http://nargund.com/gsu/edb9080/Factor%20Data%20Simulated.xlsx). Do not use the one you already downloaded in class. I have modified this one slightly, by adding a seventh variable (X7) to the worksheet now titled “7 vars” in this file.

Use the data from the 7 vars worksheet, and perform Factor analysis twice:

a) First, using the Principle Components Analysis (PCA) Method. When doing PCA, ask for extraction of components with Eigenvalues greater than 1.

b) Second, using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation. Ask for a fixed number of factors, and choose 3 as the number to extract.

In each case, use Varimax rotation.

Interpret the results in each case. Mainly, look at the rotated factor matrix. If you had to label each factor extracted, what would a reasonable label be, given the survey questions it represents?

2. Read the paper by Milind and me (http://nargund.com/gsu/edb9080/An%20Empirical%20Investigation%20of%20Student%20Evaluations%20of%20Instruction.pdf) and answer the same dozen or so questions that we answered in class with the Piketty paper, such as, what is the motivation? What is the research question? What are the constructs, variables, etc.

Post answers to both questions above to icollege under Assignment 1. You may work with your team on this. If you do, just upload one assignment for the team, and put all team member names on it. (I do not know what the teams are).

3. Start thinking about ideas for your end-of-semester team research project. For this class, your research question should develop into some sort of quantitative analysis – so think about what data you might collect (or simulate), and the kind of analysis you would need to do to answer your question. It could be an exploration like the Piketty paper, or some set of hypotheses you wish to test, or a regression model you develop to test if a group of independent variables are related to a dependent variable.