psych (version 1.0-61)

bifactor: Two data sets showing a bifactor solution.

Description

Holzinger-Swineford (1937) introduced the bifactor model of a general factor and uncorrelated group factors. The Holzinger correlation matrix is a 14 * 14 matrix from their paper. The Reise data set is 16 * 16 correlation matrix of mental health items.

Usage

data(bifactor)

source

Holzinger: Holzinger and Swineford (1937) Reise: Steve Reise (personal communication)

Details

Holzinger and Swineford introduced the bifactor model (one general factor and several group factors) for mental abilities. This is a nice demonstration data set of a hierarchical factor structure that can be analyzed using the omega function or using sem. The bifactor model is typically used in measures of cognitive ability.

The 14 variables are ordered to reflect 3 spatial tests, 3 mental speed tests, 4 motor speed tests, and 4 verbal tests.

More recent applications are to the measurement of psychological status. The Reise data set is a correlation matrix based upon >35,000 observations to the Consumer Assessment of Health Care Provideers and Systems survey instrument. Reise, Morizot, and Hays (2007) describe a bifactor solution based upon 1,000 cases.

The five factors from Reise et al. reflect Getting care quickly (1-3), Doctor communicates well (4-7), Courteous and helpful staff (8,9), Getting needed care (10-13), and and Health plan customer service (14-16).

References

Holzinger, Karl and Swineford, Frances (1937) The Bi-factor method. Psychometrika, 2, 41-54

Reise, Steven and Morizot, Julien and Hays, Ron (2007) The role of the bifactor model in resolving dimensionality issues in health outcomes measures. Quality of Life Research. 16, 19-31.

Examples

data(bifactor)
holz <- omega(Holzinger,4, title = "14 ability tests from Holzinger-Swineford")
bf <- omega(Reise,5,title="16 health items from Reise") 
omega(Reise,5,labels=colnames(Reise),title="16 health items from Reise")