Cs CFA
Cs CFA
Scenario
Use CFA if you measured one or more subjective traits with multiple items. For this cheat sheet
we assume three factors (Fa, Fb, Fc) each measured with 5 items (a1, a2, …, c4, c5) that are
measured on 5- or 7-point scales.
Power analysis
- There is no power analysis for CFA, but a general rule of thumb is to have at least 5
participants per item in the model. So for 15 items, one would need an N of at least 75.
Reporting
- “We conducted a CFA and examined the validity and reliability scores of the constructs
measured in our study. Upon inspection of the CFA model, we removed item [item]
(communality: 0.xxx) and item [item] (high cross-loadings with several other factors). The
remaining items share at least xx% of their variance with their designated construct. The final
model has a good model fit: chi-square(xxx) = xxx.xxx, p = .xxxx; RMSEA = 0.xxx, 90% CI:
[0.xxx, 0.xxx]; CFI = 0.xxx; TLI = 0.xxx”
- “To ensure the convergent validity of constructs, we examined the average variance
extracted (AVE) of each construct. The AVEs were all higher than the recommended value of
0.50, indicating adequate convergent validity. To ensure discriminant validity, we ascertained
that the square root of the AVE for each construct was higher than the correlations of the
construct with other constructs.”
- Report the loadings as follows (in this example a2 and b3 are removed):
Construct Item Loading
[Fa] [a1] [estimate]
[a2]
Alpha: 0.xx [a3] [estimate]
AVE: 0.xxx [a4] [estimate]
[a5] [estimate]
[Fb] [b1] [estimate]
[b2] [estimate]
Alpha: 0.xx [b3]
AVE: 0.xxx [b4] [estimate]
[b5] [estimate]
[Fc] [c1] [estimate]
[c2] [estimate]
Alpha: 0.xx [c3] [estimate]
AVE: 0.xxx [c4] [estimate]
[c5] [estimate]
- Also report the correlations between factors. The diagonal of this table has √(AVE):
Alpha AVE [Fa] [Fb] [Fc]
[Fa] 0.xx 0.xxx .xxx .xxx .xxx
[Fb] 0.xx 0.xxx .xxx .xxx .xxx
[Fc] 0.xx 0.xxx .xxx .xxx .xxx