Type of correlation used by factor

[Samuel Arnold]

Hi, I've done a factor analysis using the default settings for the factor command: factor item1-item48. A reviewer has asked was the factor analysis conducted on "inter-item Pearson, Spearman, or polychoric correlations"? All I can find in the STATA documentation is reference to "squared multiple correlations as estimate of communality". Can someone clarify for me? Thanks!

[Dirk Enzmann]

If you did not explicitly provide a special correlation matrix (e.g. of tetrachoric or polychoric correlations, see manual [MV] Multivariate Statistics, p. 331) -factor- will use a matrix of Pearson (= product moment) correlations by default.

[Samuel Arnold]

Thank you!