Reconstruction and Factorial Consistence: the Elbow Rule Applied to RMSEA, Parallel Analysis and other Confirmatory Techniques
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46661/revmetodoscuanteconempresa.5464Keywords:
multivariate analysis, exploratory factor analysis, maximum Likelyhood, comparison of factor structures, RMSEA scree plotAbstract
The comparison of surveys presents recurring methodological problems, among which the following stand out particularly: i) the difficulties associated with the change of the questions, either due to the addition of new ones, changing in the mode that are asked, or the elimination of others; ii) the own difficulties selecting the variables to be compared; iii) the need for recoding between mismatched surveys, and iv) the different measurement scales of the variables. Thus, in order to carry on research in quantitative methods, procedures are required to allow for the factorial structure, to compare variables, and to recode the measurement and the scale, all of them in different periods. To evaluate the extent to which the factorial structure is maintained, this work proposes measures of goodness of fit, attached to the confirmatory factorial analysis, where we can find also an original interpretation of the parsimony principle with the RMSEA, FIT and BIC, through the well-known elbow rule in the scree plot. The methodological proposal is validated through two publications, from different years, of the Sociological Research Center (CIS, by its Spanish acronym) and focused on the phenomenon of fiscal fraud.
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