Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling of Noncognitive Assessments using PROC CALIS

Abstract

Noncognitive assessments, which measure constructs such as time management, goal-setting and personality, are becoming more prevalent today in research within the domains of academic performance and workforce readiness. Many instruments that are used for this purpose contain a large number of items that can each be assigned to specific facets of the larger construct. The factor structure of each instrument emerges from a mixture of psychological theory and empirical research, often by doing exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using the SAS ® procedure PROC FACTOR. Once an initial model is established, it is important to perform confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm that the hypothesized model provides a good fit to the data. If outcome data are collected, such as grades, structural equation modeling (SEM) should also be employed to investigate how well the assessment predicts these measures. This paper will demonstrate how the SAS ® procedure PROC CALIS is useful for performing CFA and SEM. Examples of these methods will be demonstrated and proper interpretation of the fit statistics and resulting output will be illustrated.