In factor analysis, continuous observable variables are modeled as dependent on continuous latent variables or factors, as the inventor of the technique, Charles Spearman (1904), called them. This chapter treats flavors of factor analysis that have come to be termed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), in which the analyst specifies the number of latent variables (factors) and the pattern of dependence of observables on those latent variables. This stands in contrast to exploratory factor analysis (EFA; Gorsuch, 1983), in which the central goals are determining the number of latent variables and the pattern of dependence of observables on them. This distinction is not as sharp as some believe, as models typically ...
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