Principal Component Analysis

Dear list,
is it possible to use PCA on categorical data?
I have a group of 30 continuous and categorical data and would like to
select a subset for modeling a response variable. I read that PCA
would help me doing this data reduction, but all the examples I have
seen involve continuous data.

Thanks for your help,
D.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Principal Component Analysis
    ... I have a group of 30 continuous and categorical data and would like to ... I read that PCA ... has an implicit, and different, objective function to be optimized. ... predictor variables are used in prediction. ...
    (sci.stat.consult)
  • Re: Principal Component Analysis
    ... I have a group of 30 continuous and categorical data and would like to ... I read that PCA ... regression, which is what you're talking about, is dicey enough with ... complicate matters substantially. ...
    (sci.stat.consult)