Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T11:52:03.612Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Broken K Revisited: A Short Discussion of Factor Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Joseph J. Lischka
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The use of factor analysis in archaeology has increased considerably in recent years as archaeologists have recognized the advantages of using a statistical technique that can elicit otherwise unrecognizable patterns in a set of data. But there are several questions relating to scaling transformations and reliability assessments that must be answered within the context of specific research designs before reliable results can be obtained. A re-analysis of pottery type distributions at Broken K Pueblo is used to illustrate these questions. The factor solutions produced by the re-analysis exhibit relatively low reliability levels, indicating that the ratio of specific and error variance to common variance in the data is somewhat high.

Type
Comment
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 40 , Issue 2Part1 , April 1975 , pp. 220 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benfer, Robert A. 1972 Factor analysis as numerical induction: how to judge a book by its cover. American Anthropologist 74:530-554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binford, Lewis, R., and Sally, R. Binford 1966 A preliminary analysis of functional vari- ability in the Mousterian of Levallois Facies. In Recent Studies in Paleoanthropology, edited by J. Desmond Clark and F. Clark Howell. American Anthropologist 68:238-295.Google Scholar
Chayes, F. 1960 On correlation between variables of constant sum. Journal of Geophysical Research 65:4185-4193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowgjll, George L. 1968 Archaeological applications of factor, cluster and proximity analyses. American Antiquity 33:367-375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick 1965 The ceramic history of the Central Highlands of Chiapas. New World Archaeological Foundation Publication 14.Google Scholar
Freeman, Leslie G Jr., and James, R. Brown 1964 Statistical analysis of Carter Ranch pottery. Fieldiana: Anthropology 55:126-154.Google Scholar
Harman, H. H. 1967 Modem factor analysis. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Hill, James N. 1970 Prehistoric social organization in the American Southwest. University of Arizona, Anthropological Papers 18.Google Scholar
Lischka, Joseph J. 1972 A formal-function al analysis of ceramic distribution at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Nie, Norman H., Dale, H. Bent, and Hadlai Hull, C. 1970 Statistical package for the social sciences, McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Rummel, R. J. 1970 Applied factor analysis. Northwestern University Press, Evanston.Google Scholar
Sackett, James E. 1969 Factor analysis and artifact typology. American Anthropologist 71:1125-1130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B. 1972 Archaeological context and systemic con text. American Antiquity 37:156-165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tryon, R. C, and Bailey, D. E. 1970 Ouster analysis. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Whallon, Robert Jr. 1973 Spatial analysis of occupation floors I: application of dimensional analysis of variance. American Antiquity 38:266-278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar