ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book examines the factor-analytic model as a confirmatory technique. In general terms, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is not concerned with discovering a factor structure but with confirming the existence of a specific factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is a hypotheticist procedure designed to test a hypothesis about the relationship of certain hypothetical common factor variables, whose number and interpretation are given in advance, to the observed variables. Structural equation model (SEM) is concerned with testing complex models for structure of functional relationships between observed variables and latent variables. The functional relationships are described by parameters that indicate the magnitude of the effect that independent variables have on dependent variables. Thus, a structural equation model can be considered just like a series of linear regression equations relating dependent variables to independent and other dependent variables.
