Hello Saqib,

Naming the factors is for the purpose of communicating, simply, the characteristic/construct that the factor represents. By convention, yes, most folks do name their factors (if for no other reason than to help tell them apart, just like naming children!).

You mention that your factor solution did not match that of a prior study. This is not unusual, and could be attributable to: (a) sampling variation; (b) marginal or inadequate sample sizes; (c) differences in choices made by the analysts performing the factoring; (d) alternate populations being assessed; or (e) some combination of these.

Good luck with your work!

Hi Saqib,

It appears you are adapting an instrument, most likely a questionnaire from somewhere and encountered issue of convergent and discriminant validity where some of your items do not adequately converge into expected factors or discriminate from other factors. Several common reasons were concisely highlighted by David. You should try to address whether the issue lies within the theoretical underpinning of those items, different attributes of your study population, your study and sampling design or method of analysis before even considering renaming the factors, which were intended that way by the original developer of the questionnaire, I would advise caution from doing so. Hope this helps!

Hi Saqib

Are the literature which explains this occurrence. How do theses variables load in previous studies. You could perhaps force the factors and indicate how many factors you want.