This matrix is not positive definite (Factor Analysis)

[CindyD93]

Hi,

I am trying to do a Factor Analysis in SPSS, but under the Correlation Matrix it says 'determinant=0,000' and 'This matrix is not positive definite' and it won't show me the KMO and Bartlett's test. How can I fix this? I have never done a factor analysis before and I couldn't find anything about this in my textbooks. Would be great if someone could help me!

Thanks in advance!

-Cindy

 

[spunky]

if it's telling you your correlation matrix (i'm assuming it's the correlation matrix on which you want to do factor analysis) isn't positive definite, then it isn't a real correlation matrix. could it be that maybe you added a variable to your dataset that is a perfect linear combination of other variables in the dataset? i've seen people have this problem when they include something like the total sumscore of their items alongside of the items themselves