Scree Plot

A scree plot is a graphical tool used in the selection of the number of relevant components or factors to be considered in a principal components analysis or a factor analysis. Proposed originally by Raymond Cattell in 1966 in his article The Scree Test for the Number of Factors, the scree plot has become a widely used tool to deal with the issue of component and factor selection. Conceptually, the scree plot is a way of visualizing the magnitude of the variability associated with each one of the components extracted in a principal component analysis. This plot allows researchers to examine the pattern of decreasing variability attributable to each successive component in order to inform the selection of how many such components should be considered ...