On November 29 of this year, the University of World Economy and Diplomacy held a training and methodological seminar on the topic: "The Importance of Factor Analysis in Sociological Research. Application to Issues of External Migration in Germany."

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor G. Raimova spoke at the seminar organized by the Department of System Analysis and Mathematical Modeling. The speaker presented information on factor analysis and its application in sociological research.

It was noted that the choice of the right method of sociological survey is critically important for obtaining reliable and relevant data. One of the modern methods - factor analysis allows solving two important problems of the researcher: to describe the object of measurement comprehensively and at the same time compactly. With the help of factor analysis it is possible to identify hidden variable factors.

Considering that the European Union is an attractive destination for migrants, refugees or asylum seekers, who have different impacts on the socio-economic landscape of European countries, the factor analysis was illustrated using a questionnaire compiled at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Marburg. With its help, a study of attitudes towards migrants was conducted at two metallurgical enterprises. As a result of the analysis, three factors were identified, which can be characterized as follows: hostile attitude, friendly attitude and social fears. In addition, the influence of these factors on different age categories and social strata was studied.

The topic under consideration is also of interest to Uzbekistan, given the establishment of cooperation with Germany in the field of labor migration.

During the seminar, the audience had the opportunity to become familiar with one of the popular methods of multivariate statistical analysis. The significant conclusions obtained from the results of the conducted sociological research aroused the interest of the student audience in factor analysis.