The use of exploratory factor analysis in RIDEP. Guidelines for authors and reviewers

Abstract

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is a widely used statistical technique in psychometrics research. Despite its popularity, real applications do not always fit the experts' recommendations. This paper analyses 46 applications of EFA published in RIDEP - volume/issue 42(2) to 47(2) -. These applications are compared with existing recommendations regarding: (a) the input data and the adequacy of the EFA, (b) the factor extraction procedures, (c) the number-of-factors-to-retain decision, and (d) the rotation methods. Overall, we observed that the real applications of EFA are far from the experts' recommendations. Guidelines for authors and reviewers are suggested. We hope this paper will promote best practices in EFA.