Tyler VanderWeele presents "Revisiting Psychometric Theory and Factor Analysis"
Publication information:
Abstract
The presentation will revisit some of the conceptual and statistical foundations of psychometric measurement theory and factor analysis, specifically addressing the questions: (i) What happens to “factors” when they causally affect one another?, (ii) Is an underlying univariate latent variable a reasonable model for psycho-social constructs?, (iii) What are the testable empirical implications of such a model? and (iv) What alternative interpretations of analyses with constructed measures might be possible?
The presentation will be based upon the following three preprints:
- VanderWeele, T.J. and Batty, C.J.K. (2020). On the dimensional indeterminacy of one-wave factor analysis under causal effects. Technical Report.
- VanderWeele, T.J. and Vansteelandt, S. (2020). A statistical test to reject the structural interpretation of a latent factor model. Technical Report.
- VanderWeele, T.J. (2020). Causal inference and constructed measures: towards a new model of measurement for psychosocial constructs. Technical Report.
Full text
The presentation will revisit some of the conceptual and statistical foundations of psychometric measurement theory and factor analysis, specifically addressing the questions: (i) What happens to “factors” when they causally affect one another?, (ii) Is an underlying univariate latent variable a reasonable model for psycho-social constructs?, (iii) What are the testable empirical implications of such a model? and (iv) What alternative interpretations of analyses with constructed measures might be possible?
The presentation will be based upon the following three preprints:
- VanderWeele, T.J. and Batty, C.J.K. (2020). On the dimensional indeterminacy of one-wave factor analysis under causal effects. Technical Report.
- VanderWeele, T.J. and Vansteelandt, S. (2020). A statistical test to reject the structural interpretation of a latent factor model. Technical Report.
- VanderWeele, T.J. (2020). Causal inference and constructed measures: towards a new model of measurement for psychosocial constructs. Technical Report.