Factor Analysis & Psychometrics

Psychometric methods are widely used in psychology, neuroscience, education, and behavioural research to study latent constructs that cannot be measured directly.

For a complete overview of all statistical concepts and methods I’ve written, return to the main guide

These techniques help researchers identify underlying dimensions in data, validate questionnaires, assess measurement quality, and build statistical models that validate psychological constructs that shape our experience of the world, such as intelligence, personality, motivation, and more.

In this series, we will explore the foundations of factor analysis, from exploratory approaches used to discover latent structures to confirmatory methods used to test theoretical models. We will also cover practical topics such as which estimator to choose when doing your analysis and more technical details.

This series is designed for students learning factor analysis, researchers wanting to refresh their minds on this topic, or anyone curious about how psychological constructs are being measured. This guide is designed to serve as a central resource that you can return to as the series grows over time!

Published :

1. Factor analysis
2. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
3. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
4. Which estimators to use : ML, MLV, MLR, WLSMV and more

Planned :

1. What is a latent variable?