Applying the bootstrap to the multivariate case: bootstrap component/factor analysis.

The bootstrap method, which empirically estimates the sampling distribution for either inferential or descriptive statistical purposes, can be applied to the multivariate case. When conducting bootstrap component, or factor, analysis, resampling results must be located in a common factor space before summary statistics for each estimated parameter can be computed. The present article describes a strategy for applying the bootstrap method to conduct either a bootstrap component or a factor analysis with a program syntax for SPSS. The Holzinger-Swineford data set is employed to make the discussion more concrete.