1997/06/01 by Richard L. Gorsuch · 2 citations
Psychology · #Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
paper · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6803_5
crossref issued 1997/06/01 · crossref published 1997/06/01 · crossref published-print 1997/06/01 · openalex publication_date 1997/06/01 · crossref created 2005/12/22 · crossref deposited 2016/12/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29 · crossref indexed 2026/07/29
The special characteristics of items-low reliability, confounds by minor, unwanted covariance, and the likelihood of a general factor-and better understanding of factor analysis means that the default procedure of many statistical packages (Little Jiffy) is no longer adequate for exploratory item factor analysis. It produces too many factors and precludes a general factor even when that means the factors extracted are nonreplicable. More appropriate procedures that reduce these problems are presented, along with how to select the sample, sample size required, and how to select items for scales. Proposed scales can be evaluated by their correlations with the factors; a new procedure for doing so eliminates the biased values produced by correlating them with either total or factor scores. The role of exploratory factor analysis relative to cluster analysis and confirmatory factor analysis is noted.