Factor Analysis: Internal Consistency

Confirmatory factor analysis involves the issue of the structure of the correlations or relationship between each of the items of a scale. The analysis uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate whether the underlying proposed structure of the data (theoretical model) matches the relationships observed (actual data). The correspondence, or lack of correspondence, indicates the degree to which the model can be accepted as an explanation for the underlying relationships. In this application, the question asked is one of internal consistency, that is, whether the observed relationship among the individual items of the scale are consistent with the expectations of the items forming a scale measuring a single variable. The overall structure is tested for internal consistency as well as for the fit of each ...