As I can understand when you say dimensions you mean factors. Factors are appropriate in order to reduce variability (here 14 items) using unobserved variables that is, factors. On the other hand, you can use Principal Components (is a method that is related to factor analysis) in order to reduce the dimensionality. After that using factors you can use parametric methods (e.g t-test) if the assumptions are met or non-parametric if the assumptions are not met.