 Estimation of Unattenuated Factor LoadingsTodd S. Woodward and Michael A. Hunter Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 1999, vol. 24, issue 4, 384-397 Abstract: It is demonstrated that traditional exploratory factor analytic methods, when applied to correlation matrices, cannot be used to estimate unattenuated factor loadings. However, these values can be accurately estimated when the disattenuated correlation matrix, or the covariance matrix, is used as input. A mathematical basis for the advantage of this application of factor analysis is presented in this paper, as is an explanation of how these equations apply differentially to common factor analysis (CFA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Graphic displays which describe the comparative performance of CFA and PCA when extracting factors from the correlation matrix, the covariance matrix, and the disattenuated correlation matrix are provided. It is concluded that although the most accurate estimates of the unattenuated factor loadings can be achieved when CFA is used to decompose the covariance matrix or the disattenuated correlation matrix as the percentage of measurement error decreases, and the number of indicators per factor increases, the impact of methodology choice diminishes. Keywords: exploratory factor analysis; unattenuated factor loadings; common factor analysis; principal component analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jedbes:v:24:y:1999:i:4:p:384-397 DOI: 10.3102/10769986024004384 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics |
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