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EFA for Scale Development/Evidence
Method evidence record

EFA for Scale Development

Exploratory Factor Analysis for Scale Development is the psychometric application of EFA in which an item pool is administered and the resulting response data are analysed to discover the latent factor structure underlying the items. Originating with Spearman's (1904) factor theory and formalised for applied scale construction by Costello and Osborne (2005) and Fabrigar and colleagues (1999), this variant imposes a stricter sample requirement (n ≥ 100, subject-to-item ratio ≥ 5) and a higher loading threshold (≥ 0.40) than general EFA, and it treats the recovered factor structure as a draft to be subsequently validated by confirmatory analysis.

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Exploratory Factor Analysis for Scale Development
Taxonomic method record · latent-structure / psychometrics
  • Costello, A. B. & Osborne, J. W. (2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: Four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 10(7), 1–9. · URL
  • Fabrigar, L. R., Wegener, D. T., MacCallum, R. C. & Strahan, E. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4(3), 272–299. · DOI 10.1037/1082-989X.4.3.272
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Related methods

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Same method familyConfirmatory factor analysismachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyCronbach's Alphamachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyEFAmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.See alsoPrincipal Component Analysismachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familySEMmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.

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Sources

2 recorded citations, copied from the method source record.

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