Winter 2008 - Vol. 3 No. 3 - National Association of Extension 4-H ...

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Volume 3, Number 3, Winter 2008Article 080303RS001Informed Decision-Making in ExploratoryFactor AnalysisMelissa Cater and Krisanna MachtmesLouisiana State UniversityAbstract: As the field of youth development grows, evaluation ofprogram outcomes has become more embedded in the programprocess. It is incumbent on youth development professionals tounderstand more clearly the process of instrument development. Onephase of the process involves taking a closer look at the data todetermine if an instrument measures one overall construct or if itemscluster together to reveal underlying constructs. Exploratory factoranalysis is a technique used to determine the underlying constructs, orsubgroups, of an instrument. While professionals may use a variety ofdecision-making steps, researchers have identified some commonlyagreed upon considerations when conducting an exploratory factoranalysis. This article seeks to make the decision-making steps of thisprocess more transparent while also offering guidance to youthdevelopment professionals who may be seeking to use this procedurefor the first time.IntroductionIn the field of youth development, evaluating programs based on participant perceptions is acommon practice. When developing instruments to measure youth perceptions, it is notuncommon to ask questions about several different aspects of learning that are targeted in aprogram. Factor analysis is a statistical technique “whose common objective is to represent aset of variables in terms of a smaller number of hypothetical variables” (Kim & Mueller, 1978, p.9). Youth development professionals can use this technique to determine the underlyingconstructs, or subgroups, that an instrument measures. This is important because it allows theprofessional to purposefully consider a specific construct (i.e., verbal communication skills), andhow this skill is impacted by a treatment or specific demographic variables, instead of simplylooking at the impact of the program on overall communication skills.
Choosing the Appropriate AnalysisThere are two types of factor analysis: exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatoryfactor analysis (CFA). Exploratory factor analysis is appropriate for use with newly developedinstruments where there is no prior knowledge about the existence of underlying patterns in thedata, while confirmatory factor analysis is appropriate for testing hypotheses about thestructuring of variables into significant factors (Kim, 1970).Exploratory Factor Analysis. Exploratory factor analysis “seeks to uncover the underlyingstructure of a relatively large set of variables” (Garson, 2006, paragraph 12). In other words, asurvey instrument with a given number of questions is analyzed to see if the questions separateinto smaller subgroups. An example of this is a 40-question survey developed to measureyouths’ perceptions of learning in a leadership program. Exploratory factor analysis would beused to analyze the instrument and determine what, if any, underlying commonalities thequestions share. These themes might include a subset of questions which measure perceptionsof communication skills, perceptions of problem-solving skills, or numerous other concepts.Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis “seeks to determine if thenumber of factors and the loadings of measured (indicator) variables on them conform to whatis expected on the basis of pre-established theory” (Garson, 2006, paragraph 13). This analysisis routinely used with existing instruments, where there is interest in verifying that previouslyidentified latent constructs hold under different circumstances (e.g., a larger population ordifferent ethnic groups). This type of analysis would be appropriate for use with an instrumentsuch as the Free Time Motivation Scale (Baldwin & Caldwell, 2003), which was tested with asample of 6th through 8th grade youth whom were 95% Euro-American. If the scale was usedin a different population, perhaps one that was largely African-American or Hispanic, thenconfirmatory factor analysis would be used to ensure that the questions from the surveyfactored into the same constructs as with the predominantly Euro-American youth.The choice between exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis is driven by thetype of instrument that is being analyzed; whether it is a newly developed instrument or apreviously developed instrument. Discussing the decision-making process for each of theseprocesses is beyond the scope of this article, therefore the remainder of this article will focus onthe specific choices facing users of a newly developed instrument where exploratory factoranalysis would be the appropriate procedure to use.Sample Size ConsiderationsOne of the first considerations impacting the advisability of conducting an exploratory factoranalysis is sample size. Is the sample large enough to assure good recovery of populationfactors? Recommendations are commonly expressed as a proportion of questionnairerespondents to instrument questions or items. Suggestions for this proportion range from aminimum of five respondents for each item, to as many as twenty respondents per item(Gorsuch, 1983; Habing, 2003; Nunnally, 1978). More recently, researchers have suggestedthat the issues of which variables to include, the communality of variables, andoverdetermination of factors are of more importance than sample size (Fabrigar, Wegener,MacCallum, & Strahan, 1999; Hogarty, Hines, Kromrey, Ferron, & Mumford, 2005).MacCallum et al. (1999) suggest that when communalities are high (greater than .6), samplesize has less impact on recovery of population factors, although this “rule” does not occur in a
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Winter 2008Volume 3 Number 3Editor
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Examining the Potential Unintended
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centered, multidisciplinary approac
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Volume 3, Number 3, Winter 2008Arti
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fostering skill learning and positi
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Table 1Participation in out-of-scho
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ResultsOur analyses were conducted
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watching TV, playing video games or
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Accordingly, this research augments
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Dotterer, A.M., McHale, S.M., & Cro
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A Descriptive View of the 4-H Club
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In this paper, the results of a cro
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section is a set of statements that
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Table 3Experience in the 4-H clubNo
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significantly higher than Caucasian
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p
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This study focused only on the 4-H
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Theokas, C., Lerner, J.V., Phelps,
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potential for reaching audiences, d
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Putting Marketing Concepts into Pra
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2. Find out what others think about
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Diem, K.G. (1994). What do youth li
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Promoting Supportive Relationships
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focused on youth-adult relationship
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Conversely, more modern educational
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perhaps most importantly, the effic
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Organized youth programs, when stru
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likely to internalize the positive
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Ellis, J.M., & Caldwell, L.L. (2005
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Schweinle, A., Meyer, D.K., & Turne
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This study uses the “5 Cs” mode
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ResultsIn this analysis 48 codes we
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Table 3Inductive Codes Classified b
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CompetenceCompetence in organized s
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ecause of him (the coach)…. You d
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practices and competitions, the gir
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Eccles, J.S., & Gootmann, J.A. (Eds
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Smoll, F.L., & Smith, R.E. (2002).
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The present work builds upon that o
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MethodSample and Data CollectionAs
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(scores ranging from 0 to 8) and a
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Table 2Paired Sample T-tests Compar
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Hypotheses 5 and 6 were tested by c
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De Coverly Veale, D.M.W. (1987). Ex
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Story, M., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Sh
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Cronbach’s Alpha Score For Youth
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12 to 18 years old. Fourteen of the
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Therefore, there was a mixed relati
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Youth respondents identified two ob
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are developed through working in a
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Seevers, B.S., & Dormody, T.J. (199
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With the many opportunities that yo
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meaningfully reduced involving dedu
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Page 124 and 125: “They can't drive or do not have
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Page 128 and 129: Parker, L. (1999). If all youth ser
Page 130 and 131: Volume 3, Number 3, Winter 2008Arti
Page 132 and 133: However, the literature is mixed in
Page 134 and 135: group was the quality of the progra
Page 136 and 137: Table 1Reasons for Non-Attendance:
Page 138 and 139: easons given was six. Sixty-three p
Page 140 and 141: The non-family-related activities t
Page 142 and 143: “Catch ‘Em Being Good:”An Ext
Page 144 and 145: In 2001, the WVUES received a schoo
Page 146 and 147: to leverage the resources of the co
Page 148 and 149: 4. Most primary behavior incidents
Page 150 and 151: Recommendations for developing prog
Page 152 and 153: Cross-Cultural UnderstandingThrough
Page 154 and 155: that plague these nations such as p
Page 156 and 157: 2003). Youth leadership training in
Page 158 and 159: • enable these young people to pa
Page 160 and 161: We believe that the USPORT program
Page 162 and 163: West Virginia’s Response to theRo
Page 164 and 165: Ensuring good oral health requires
Page 166 and 167: Table 1Correlations between Planner
Page 168 and 169: problems in this rural state…This
Page 172 and 173: vacuum. Determination of factors, a
Page 174 and 175: ReferencesBaldwin, C., & Caldwell,
Page 178 and 179: Purpose of StudyThe purpose of this
Page 180 and 181: Students in the High computer gamin
Page 182 and 183: Do Higher Levels of 4-H LeadershipA
Page 184 and 185: IntroductionEmotional Intelligence
Page 186 and 187: second section examined demographic
Page 188 and 189: a constructive manner. The group is
Page 190 and 191: differences in the scores for the 1
Page 192 and 193: Adaptability include “Reality Tes
Page 194 and 195: ReferencesAmerican Academy of Pedia
Page 196 and 197: Healthy Kids, Healthy Families:A Co
Page 198 and 199: and a half million U.S. youth (ages
Page 200 and 201: Families. In partnering counties, p
Page 202 and 203: Healthy Families was then offered a
Page 204 and 205: Kamberelis, G., & Dimitriadis, G. (
Page 208 and 209: Change It Up!What Girls Say About R
Page 210: In addition, the study summarizes t
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