It looks like factanal is unable to optimize from these starting values (kinda like the error message says). So, factanal.fit.mle isn't converging and you have problems with your analysis. Try putting control = list(trace = T) in your code to see what happenens. E.g.,
R > R > v1 <- c(1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,3,3,3,3,3,4,5,6) R > v2 <- c(1,2,1,1,1,1,2,1,2,1,3,4,3,3,3,4,6,5) R > v3 <- c(3,3,3,3,3,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,5,4,6) R > v4 <- c(3,3,4,3,3,1,1,2,1,1,1,1,2,1,1,5,6,4) R > v5 <- c(1,1,1,1,1,3,3,3,3,3,1,1,1,1,1,6,4,5) R > v6 <- c(1,1,1,2,1,3,3,3,4,3,1,1,1,2,1,6,5,4) R > m1 <- cbind(v1,v2,v3,v4,v5,v6) R > factanal(m1, factors=3, control = list(trace = T)) start 1 value: 0.4755156 uniqs: 0.0050 0.1009 0.0050 0.2241 0.0843 0.0050 Call: factanal(x = m1, factors = 3, control = list(trace = T)) Uniquenesses: v1 v2 v3 v4 v5 v6 0.005 0.101 0.005 0.224 0.084 0.005 Loadings: Factor1 Factor2 Factor3 v1 0.944 0.182 0.267 v2 0.905 0.235 0.159 v3 0.236 0.210 0.946 v4 0.180 0.242 0.828 v5 0.242 0.881 0.286 v6 0.193 0.959 0.196 Factor1 Factor2 Factor3 SS loadings 1.893 1.886 1.797 Proportion Var 0.316 0.314 0.300 Cumulative Var 0.316 0.630 0.929 The degrees of freedom for the model is 0 and the fit was 0.4755 R > If you think the model should be OK and there isn't an error somewhere else then you'll want to fiddle with the control options. From the help for fractanal: control: A list of control values, nstart The number of starting values to be tried if 'start = NULL'. Default 1. trace logical. Output tracing information? Default 'FALSE'. lower The lower bound for uniquenesses during optimization. Should be > 0. Default 0.005. opt A list of control values to be passed to 'optim''s 'control' argument. rotate a list of additional arguments for the rotation function. ...: Components of 'control' can also be supplied as named arguments to 'factanal'. HTH, Andy > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Catherine Dempsey > Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 7:31 AM > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: [R] Info > > > I am having difficulty obtaining the scores from my principal component > analysis. I have used this method before and have had no problems. The > data set that I am using this time is similar to what I have used in the > past. What do I need to do to my dataset in order for me to obtain these > scores? > > R screen says the following message > > Error in factanal(covmat = pasa.cov, factors = 4) : > Unable to optimize from these starting value(s) > > many thanks > > Catherine > > > KSS Ltd > Seventh Floor St James's Buildings 79 Oxford Street Manchester > M1 6SS England > Company Registration Number 2800886 > Tel: +44 (0) 161 228 0040 Fax: +44 (0) 161 236 6305 > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kssg.com > > > The information in this Internet email is confidential and m...{{dropped}} > > ______________________________________________ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html ______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html