Measurement connects theoretical concepts to what is observable in the empirical world, and is fundamental to all social and behavioral research. In this volume, J. Micah Roos and Shawn Bauldry introduce a popular approach to measurement: confirmatory factor analysis, with examples in every chapter draw from national survey data. Data to replicate the examples are available on a companion website, along with code in R, Stata, and Mplus.
J. Micah Roos is an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research interests include knowledge, science, religion, culture, stratification, measurement, racial attitudes, and quantitative methods. He ties these interests together through a quantitative, measurement approach to the sociology of knowledge and culture, with a focus on stratification along the early life course. Another strand of his work involves applying techniques in confirmatory factor analysis to the problem of differential item functioning or item-level bias. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Shawn Bauldry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Purdue University. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology and an M.S. in Statistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012 and has previously taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research in applied statistics primarily focuses on the development of structural equation models. His research in sociology explores interrelationships between socioeconomic resources and health over the life course and across generations. His work has appeared in a variety of outlets including Sociological Methodology, Sociological Methods & Research, Psychological Methods, Social Forces, and Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Model Specification Chapter 3: Identification and Estimation Chapter 4: Model Evaluation and Respecification Chapter 5: Measurement Invariance Chapter 6: Categorical Indicators Chapter 7: Conclusion Appendix: Reliability of Scales Glossary Bibliography
Confirmatory Factor Analysis is well written and easy to read, The book covers the essentials necessary for understanding and using CFA. It is appropriate for graduate students and professors new to this analysis approach. -- Jerry J. Vaske The authors provide a masterful and fluid overview of confirmatory factor analysis that will guide readers to the best practices whether conducting their own research or evaluating the research of others. -- John Hoffmann This is a well-written and comprehensive text. -- Michael D. Biderman Roos and Bauldry lucidly set out foundations of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) as applied in the assessment and construction of scales. Beginning with model specification, they discuss identification, estimation, and assessment of CFA models, before developing extensions to assessing measurement invariance and categorical (rather than quantitative) indicators. -- Peter V. Marsden
