ConfirmatoryFactorAnalysis(CFA)isastatisticaltechniqueusedtotestwhethermeasuresofaconstructareconsistentwitharesearcher'sunderstandingofthenatureofthatconstruct.Unlikeexploratoryfactoranalysis(EFA),whichexplorestheunderlyingstructureofadatasetwithoutpredefinedhypotheses,CFArequirestheresearchertospecifytheexpectedfactorstructureinadvance.Thisincludesdefininghowobservedvariablesarerelatedtolatentfactorsandhowthesefactorsmaycorrelatewitheachother.CFAiscommonlyusedinpsychology,socialsciences,andotherfieldstovalidatethestructureofmeasurementinstruments,assessmodelfit,andrefinetheoreticalmodels.Itprovidesarigorousframeworkfortestinghypothesesabouttherelationshipsbetweenobservedvariablesandtheirunderlyingconstructs.
