þáttakenningum

Þáttakenningum is an Icelandic term that translates to "factor analysis" in English. It is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. The core idea is to identify underlying latent constructs that explain the patterns of relationships between multiple measured variables.

In essence, factor analysis seeks to reduce a large set of observed variables into a smaller set of meaningful factors. These factors are not directly measured but are inferred from the correlations between the observed variables. For example, in a psychological context, a set of survey questions measuring different aspects of anxiety might be analyzed using factor analysis to reveal an underlying factor representing "general anxiety."

The process typically involves calculating a correlation matrix of the observed variables and then extracting factors based on this matrix. Various techniques exist for factor extraction, such as principal component analysis and principal axis factoring. After extraction, the factors are often rotated to achieve a more interpretable solution, where each observed variable is strongly associated with only one or a few factors. The output of factor analysis includes factor loadings, which indicate the strength of the relationship between each observed variable and each factor. Þáttakenningum is widely used in social sciences, psychology, marketing, and other fields to understand complex relationships and simplify data.