Factor analysis of mixed data

Factor analysis of mixed data is a way of combining different types of data - such as numbers and words - to figure out what all the different pieces have in common. We do this by looking for patterns within the data. For example, if we have a list of people's favorite fruits, and a list of their favorite colors, we can use factor analysis to look for the patterns between them. For example, if most people who like apples also like blue, then the factor analysis would tell us that there is a connection between apples and blue. Factor analysis helps us to understand the relationships between all kinds of different data, and can be used to make predictions about how people might respond in different situations.