discourse

n. the areas of written, spoken, and signed communication, whether formal (debate) or informal (conversation). The term is most often used in linguistics, where discourse analysts focus on both the study of language (sentences, speech acts, and lexicons) as well as the rhetoric, meanings, and strategies that underlie social interactions.

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Psychology term of the day

February 1st 2025

varimax rotation

a statistical procedure applied within factor analysis and principal components analysis to simplify solutions and enhance interpretation of the results. It is a type of orthogonal rotation intended to make each factor have a small number of large factor loadings and a large number of zero (or small) factor loadings. Thus, following a varimax rotation, each original variable tends to be associated with a small number of factors, and each factor represents only a small number of variables. See factor rotation.