方法对比

	验证性因子分析	克朗巴赫α系数（信度分析）	探索性因子分析（EFA）	主成分分析
领域	心理测量学	统计学	统计学	机器学习
方法族	Latent structure	Latent structure	Latent structure	Machine learning
起源年份	1969	1951	—	2002
提出者	Karl Jöreskog	Lee J. Cronbach	—	Jolliffe, I.T. (textbook); Pearson & Hotelling (origins)
类型	Measurement model / latent variable analysis	Reliability / internal consistency coefficient	Latent variable / dimension reduction	Unsupervised dimensionality reduction
开创性文献	Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. ISBN: 978-1462515363	Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297–334.	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.	Jolliffe, I.T. (2002). Principal Component Analysis (2nd ed.). Springer.
别名	Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi — Ölçek Doğrulama (CFA), confirmatory factor analysis, measurement model testing	coefficient alpha, alpha reliability, internal consistency reliability, Güvenilirlik Analizi (Cronbach Alpha)	common factor analysis, açımlayıcı faktör analizi, factor analysis	Temel Bileşenler Analizi (PCA), PCA, principal components analysis, Karhunen-Loève transform
相关	6	4	4	3
摘要	Confirmatory factor analysis is a measurement modelling technique that tests whether a hypothesised factor structure — typically derived from theory or an earlier exploratory analysis — fits observed data from a new sample. Developed by Karl Jöreskog in 1969, it became the dominant tool for validating psychological scales because it requires the researcher to specify in advance which items belong to which latent factor and then assesses the adequacy of that specification against explicit statistical fit criteria.	Cronbach's alpha is a coefficient of internal consistency that quantifies the degree to which a set of items on a scale measures the same underlying construct. Introduced by Lee J. Cronbach in 1951, it remains the most widely reported reliability index in social-science, health, and educational research.	Exploratory factor analysis reduces a large set of observed variables into a smaller number of latent common factors. It is widely used in scale development and psychometrics to uncover the dimensional structure that underlies a set of correlated items, without specifying that structure in advance.	Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is an unsupervised dimensionality-reduction method — given its modern textbook treatment by Ian Jolliffe (2002) — that compresses high-dimensional data into fewer dimensions while preserving the maximum possible variance. It re-expresses correlated variables as a small set of uncorrelated principal components ordered by how much of the data's variation each one captures.