How to factor-analyze your data right: do’s, don’ts, and how-to’s.

The current article provides a guideline for conducting factor analysis, a technique used to estimate the population-level factor structure underlying the given sample data. First, the distinction between exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) is briefly discussed; along with this discussion, the notion of principal component analysis and why it does not provide a valid substitute of factor analysis is noted. Second, a...