The ‘orthogonal rotation’ is carried out in factor analysis, when factors are-

Correct option is A

● Orthogonal rotation in factor analysis is used when the factors are uncorrelated (i.e., the factors are independent of each other).
● In orthogonal rotation, the axes of the factors are rotated in such a way that they remain at a 90-degree angle (orthogonal) to each other, ensuring that the factors remain uncorrelated.

Information Booster:
1. Orthogonal rotation aims to simplify the interpretation of factors by making them independent and uncorrelated.
2. The goal of orthogonal rotation is to rotate the factor axes while keeping the factors independent, maintaining the mathematical condition that their correlation equals zero.
3. Common methods of orthogonal rotation include Varimax and Quartimax, which attempt to produce factors that are easily interpretable and not correlated with one another.
4. This method is especially useful when researchers assume that the factors are conceptually independent and should not influence each other.

Additional Knowledge:
● Option (2): Correlated factors would require oblique rotation, not orthogonal rotation.
● Option (3): The dependency of factors would also suggest oblique rotation because oblique methods allow factors to correlate with one another.