There is increasing interest in using factor scores in structural equation models and there have been numerous methodological papers on the topic. Nevertheless, sum scores, which are computed from adding up item responses, continue to be ubiquitous in practice. It is therefore important to compare simulation results involving factor scores to…

Structural equation models are commonly used to estimate relationships between latent variables. Almost universally, the fitted models specify that these relationships are linear in form. This assumption is rarely checked empirically, largely for lack of appropriate diagnostic techniques. This article presents and evaluates two procedures that can…

Parameter recovery was assessed within mixture confirmatory factor analysis across multiple estimator conditions under different simulated levels of mixture class separation. Mixture class separation was defined in the measurement model (through factor loadings) and the structural model (through factor variances). Maximum likelihood (ML) via the…

When comparing latent variables among groups, it is important to first establish the equivalence or invariance of the measurement model across groups. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is a commonly used methodological approach to examine measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I). Within the CFA framework, the chi-square goodness-of-fit test and…

Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) is a popular method for the examination of measurement invariance and specifically, factor invariance. Recent research has begun to focus on using MCFA to detect invariance for test items. MCFA requires certain parameters (e.g., factor loadings) to be constrained for model identification, which are…

Across a variety of disciplines and areas of inquiry, reliable and valid measures are a cornerstone of quality research. This is the case because to have confidence in the findings of our studies, we must first have confidence in the quality of our measures. This article briefly reviews the literature on scale development and provides an empirical…