Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

This chapter explains the core principles of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) that can be used in applied linguistics research. CFA and SEM are multivariate statistical techniques researchers use to test a hypothesis or theory. This chapter provides essential guidelines for not only how to read CFA and SEM reports but also how to perform CFA. CFA differs from exploratory factor analysis in many ways (e.g., statistical assumptions and procedures, assessment of model fit and methods for extracting factors). Researchers employ SEM to evaluate or test among observed variables and latent variables. In this chapter, EQS Program is used to illustrate how to perform CFA.