ABSTRACT
The methods of factor analysis described up to this point represent traditional procedures that are now commonly referred to as “exploratory factor analysis,” or EFA. Newer methods with a stronger base in statistical hypothesis testing theory have been developed in recent years. These new methods are referred to as “confirmatory factor analysis,” or CFA, and are generally noted by the absence of factor rotation. Confirmatory factor analysis, hereafter referred to as CFA, is actually a special case of a more general set of statistical analysis methods that are called “covariance structure analysis.” This chapter provides an introduction to CFA and show how it differs from EFA. A brief introduction to covariance structure analysis is given in Chapter 13.
