Confirmatory factor analysis on a new sample validates scales better than exploratory analysis alone

Evidence

Although exploratory factor analytic techniques are typically used in the scale development process, there are much more explicit approaches for demonstrating factorial validity (DeVellis, 1991). Specifically, verification of an instrument’s factor structure, by using a different sample and more sophisticated confirmatory factor analytic techniques, provides greater evidence of an instrument’s factorial validity than a single study based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA). — Sherman A. Lee, Chelsea A. Reid, Stephen D. Short, Jeffrey A. Gibbons, Ruth Yeh, and Matthew L. Campbell, Fear of Muslims, 23

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with the incremental validity point a paragraph later as a checklist for judging any psychometric instrument. — connects to: Combining exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis produces theory-driven results robust across samples — Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese, The Duality of American Christian…, 94
• SEED: Angle: why so much published scale development stops at EFA and never earns the stronger validity claim it implies.