confirmatory factor analysis

In statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is a special form of factor analysis, most commonly used in social research. It is used to test whether measures of a are consistent with a researcher's understanding of the nature of that construct (or factor). As such, the objective of confirmatory factor analysis is to test whether the data fit a hypothesized measurement model. This hypothesized model is based on theory and/or previous analytic research. CFA was first developed by Jöreskog and has built upon and replaced older methods of analyzing construct validity such as the MTMM Matrix as described in Campbell & Fiske (1959).