Factorial Invariance

Factorial invariance focuses on factor structure and examines whether the relationship between latent variables (i.e., constructs) and manifest variables (i.e., measurement items) is similar across subgroups. The concept of factorial invariance is used in measurement invariance research. Measurement invariance research studies the degree to which the same constructs are being measured across independent subgroups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, diagnosis, treatment condition) or across dependent measures (e.g., measurement time points, raters). In this entry, subgroups are used to explain the basic concepts and methods, but also a method for dependent measures is introduced. The main question in measurement invariance research is, after given a certain level of the latent constructs that is being measured, are the measurement scores invariant across different subgroups? One of the methods to ...

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