ABSTRACT
factor analysis is indeed a perennial favorite as a subject for discussion at these conferences. I was asked to consider the implications of factor analysis for achievement testing, with special reference to skills and knowledges in the verbal domain. My title, “Factors of Verbal Achievement,” may sound as if I am going to rattle off a catalogue of such factors. This is not what I intend to do. Instead, I want to consider some general questions about the role of factor analysis in studying and measuring achievement. I shall illustrate my points in connection with the verbal domain, but they are equally applicable in other domains. I shall, of course, restrict my attention to factor analytic work conducted by R-technique as applied to correlations of test variables over persons.
