Answer:
Factor analysis
Explanation:
In a survey, the more variables are used, the more they tend to be correlated with each other. In such cases the researcher needs to look for ways to manage these variables by grouping them or creating a new measure that can represent a set of these variables.
Factor analysis is an exploratory statistical technique that allows this work to be performed. It seeks to define, in a study with many variables, highly correlated sets of variables, known as factors. The factors are intended to summarize the various variables into a smaller set of dimensions with minimal information loss.
Because of this ability to manipulate many variables with mastery, factor analysis was the perfect statistical technique to be associated with trait theory that analyzes the correlations between responses in personality inventories and other measures.
