Evaluating Model Fit
Most statistical methods only require one statistical test to determine the significance of the analyses. However, in CFA, several statistical tests are used to determine how well the model fits to the data. Note that a good fit between the model and the data does not mean that the model is “correct”, or even that it explains a large proportion of the covariance. A “good model fit” only indicates that the model is plausible. When reporting the results of a confirmatory factor analysis, one is urged to report: a) the proposed models, b) any modifications made, c) which measures identify each latent variable, d) correlations between latent variables, d) any other pertinent information, such as whether constraints are used. With regard to selecting model fit statistics to report, one should not simply report the statistics that estimate the best fit, though this may be tempting. Though several varying opinions exist, Kline (2010) recommends reporting the Chi-squared test, the RMSEA, the CFI, and the SRMR.
Read more about this topic: Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Famous quotes containing the words evaluating, model and/or fit:
“Evaluation is creation: hear it, you creators! Evaluating is itself the most valuable treasure of all that we value. It is only through evaluation that value exists: and without evaluation the nut of existence would be hollow. Hear it, you creators!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this: in portrait painting to put on canvas something more than the face the model wears for that one day; to paint the man, in short, as well as his features.”
—James Mcneill Whistler (1834–1903)
“Nations do not think, they only feel. They get their feelings at second hand through their temperaments, not their brains. A nation can be brought—by force of circumstances, not argument—to reconcile itself to any kind of government or religion that can be devised; in time it will fit itself to the required conditions; later it will prefer them and will fiercely fight for them.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)