Introduction to Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)) using Lavaan in R Statistical Programming Language

This workshop will cover how to perform a confirmatory factor analysis(CFA)using Lavaan. Lavaan, which stands for latent variable analysis is a free open-source commercial package in R, and it is developed and maintained by Yves Rosseel (Rosseel, 2012). It is used to fit a variety of latent variable models, including confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling and latent growth curve models. CFA allows the researcher to test the hypothesis that a relationship between observed variables and their underlying latent constructs exists. CFA falls under the broad concept of factor analysis is divided broadly into two types, exploratory and confirmatory. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), is used to understand the underlying dimensions or constructs of an unknown scale, while confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to test hypothesis of a pre-determined factor structure of a previously developed scale.