Underlying Dimensions of Knowledge Assessment : Factor Analysis of the Knowledge Assessment Methodology Data
The Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) database measures variables that may be used to assess the readiness of countries for the knowledge economy and has many policy uses. Formal analysis using KAM data is faced with the problem of which varia...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/04/7549913/underlying-dimensions-knowledge-assessment-factor-analysis-knowledge-assessment-methodology-data http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7067 |
| Summary: | The Knowledge Assessment Methodology
(KAM) database measures variables that may be used to assess
the readiness of countries for the knowledge economy and has
many policy uses. Formal analysis using KAM data is faced
with the problem of which variables to choose and why.
Rather than make these decisions in an ad hoc manner, the
authors recommend factor-analytic methods to distill the
information contained in the many KAM variables into a
smaller set of "factors." Their main objective is
to quantify the factors for each country, and to do so in a
way that allows comparisons of the factor scores over time.
The authors investigate both principal components as well as
true factor analytic methods, and emphasize simple
structures that help provide a clear political-economic
meaning of the factors, but also allow comparisons over time. |
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