A STATISTICAL APPROACH TO COMMUNITY PROBLEM ANALYSIS USING EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS

This paper presents a statistical examination of community-level problems using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) as a dimensionality-reduction and structure-identification technique. The study focuses on Barangay Tablon, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines, where residents’ perceptions of social, institutional, environmental, and public safety conditions were collected through a structured survey instrument. A total of 255 valid responses were obtained, covering indicators related to governance, health services, sanitation, infrastructure, community facilities, safety, and social risks. Prior to factor extraction, the suitability of the data for factor analysis was evaluated. The instrument exhibited good internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.819. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy yielded a value of 0.775, and Bartlett’s test of Sphericity was statistically significant