9  Acquiescence Bias

Numerous studies in psychology, education, and marketing involving human subjects are conducted through questionnaires (Bruner et al., 2001). It is assumed that participants will truthfully respond to the items in such research, thus accurately representing their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings with minimal measurement errors. However, it is known that this type of research comes with a host of issues, such as response biases or method effects (e.g., Weijters et al., 2010). In 1942, Cronbach proposed that participants respond to a true-or-false test. From his data, he observed that some respondents tended to choose the “true” option more frequently than others. This style of responding to a questionnaire is termed acquiescence and is commonly defined as the positive endorsement of the item, regardless of its content (Robinson et al., 1973), while disagreement is endorsing the item negatively. Thus, those who are more acquiescent tend to mark higher response options on the questions. Table 9.1 provides an example of responding to an extroversion questionnaire. In this example, note that the respondent tends to mark closer to the extremes (indicated in bold), which would indicate an acquiescent person.

Table 9.1: Hypothetical Acquiescence Responses in Extroversion Items
Item Totally Disagree Partially Disagree Partially agree I totally agree
I am a communicative person 1 2 3 4
I like interacting with people 1 2 3 4
I don’t feel energized when I have large social interactions 1 2 3 4

9.1 Acquiescence: trait or state?

Acquiescence is a response style correlated with individual and cultural variables. Literature suggests that individuals with high levels of acquiescence tend to be young, non-depressed, and have a high sense of coherence (Hinz et al., 2007), as well as possessing lower educational levels (Soto et al., 2008). A study investigating whether acquiescence is an inherited trait found no relationship between acquiescence and genetic sharing among monozygotic and dizygotic siblings, suggesting it is also influenced by environmental factors (Kam et al., 2013). Further evidence of its environmental influence includes research indicating that respondents from collectivist cultures tend to be more compliant than those from individualistic cultures (Chen et al., 1995).

Studies suggest that a portion of acquiescence remains stable over time (Billiet & Davidov, 2008). However, employing a latent state-trait modeling approach, Danner et al. (2015) uncovered that acquiescence exhibits trait-like characteristics (i.e., stable over time) as well as state-like features (i.e., subject to situational changes), indicating that both individual traits, such as cognitive ability or personality, and situational factors, such as fatigue, should be taken into account when investigating acquiescence. Some critics of acquiescence research, such as Ferrando et al. (2004), argue that acquiescence should not represent a personality trait because this latent trait cannot be measured through scales. This notion is flawed, and we will delve into this further later. Nonetheless, the authors found that acquiescence is consistent across different domains, present both in studies of personality factors and attitudes (Ferrando et al., 2004).

9.3 The Removal of Acquiescence: Statistics and Design

Acquiescence can be removed in two ways: through statistical analyses that eliminate acquiescence from the covariance structure of the data or through research design. Regarding analyses, acquiescence should be addressed prior to conducting any covariance-based analysis, such as reliability analysis, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling (Billiet and McClendon, 2000; Cambré et al., 2002; Kam et al., 2012; Lorenzo-Seva et al., 2016). To eliminate acquiescence from the covariance structure of the data, it is generally necessary to make two assumptions (Savalei and Falk, 2014). The first assumption is that the acquiescence of each item is independent of the latent factor being measured, meaning this case should be carefully examined in each analysis, as it may not always hold true (Ferrando et al., 2003). The second assumption is that acquiescence bias behaves like a latent factor, affecting different items in different ways (Billiet and McClendon, 2000), and should also be critically examined in each case.

Despite the possibility of controlling acquiescence through scale score composition, it cannot be controlled within the factorial structure of the scale (Savalei and Falk, 2014). To address this issue, some strategies are employed in research design to mitigate this bias. The study by Weijters et al. (2010) demonstrates that individuals exhibit higher levels of acquiescence if the questionnaire labels all response levels (e.g., ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree”) and includes a midpoint (e.g., “Neither Agree nor Disagree”). Additionally, adding more gradations of agreement and disagreement does not affect the level of acquiescence, meaning a 5-point scale does not show less or more acquiescence than a 7-point scale (Weijters et al., 2010). Barnette (2000) found in their research that reversing half of the response options, the anchors, leads to higher levels of accuracy and observed variance.

Fribourg et al. (2006) employed a different research design compared to others, comparing Likert scales with semantic differential scales. The study results indicate that semantic differential data are more suitable to the model than Likert format, and they exhibit clearer unidimensionality. Furthermore, the semantic differential scale did not correlate with measures of social desirability, further reducing response falsification (Friborg et al., 2006). Additionally, a semantic differential response scale showed no acquiescence bias in another study (Lewis, 2018). Finally, Zhang & Savalei (2016) explored an alternative version that enhances the factorial structure of psychological scales, termed the expanded format. The expanded format involves writing one item for each variation of the response scale, meaning if it’s a four-point scale, the researcher must write one item representing each level of the latent trait. The participant selects which of these four items best represents them. The expanded format yielded a lower number of dimensions in an exploratory factor analysis (closer to the previously theorized number), better model fit indices, and improved reliability indices (Zhang & Savalei, 2016).

9.4 How to Control Acquiescence in R

9.4.1 Controlling Acquiescence with Ferrando et al. (2009)

To run with the analysis by Ferrando et al. (2009), we first have to install the vampyr (Navarro-Gonzalez et al., 2021) package to run the analyses.

install.packages("vampyr")

And tell the program that we are going to use the functions of these packages.

library(vampyr)

To run the analyses, we will use a dataset from the package itself. Let’s see what the database looks like.

summary(vampyr::vampyr_example)
       V2              V8             V13             V21       
 Min.   :1.000   Min.   :1.000   Min.   :1.000   Min.   :1.000  
 1st Qu.:3.000   1st Qu.:2.000   1st Qu.:1.000   1st Qu.:2.000  
 Median :4.000   Median :4.000   Median :2.000   Median :3.000  
 Mean   :3.667   Mean   :3.263   Mean   :2.317   Mean   :2.947  
 3rd Qu.:5.000   3rd Qu.:4.000   3rd Qu.:3.000   3rd Qu.:4.000  
 Max.   :5.000   Max.   :5.000   Max.   :5.000   Max.   :5.000  
       V1              V6             V17            V19             V20       
 Min.   :1.000   Min.   :1.000   Min.   :1.00   Min.   :1.000   Min.   :1.000  
 1st Qu.:3.000   1st Qu.:1.000   1st Qu.:3.00   1st Qu.:3.000   1st Qu.:1.000  
 Median :4.000   Median :2.000   Median :4.00   Median :4.000   Median :2.000  
 Mean   :3.643   Mean   :2.467   Mean   :3.71   Mean   :3.493   Mean   :1.997  
 3rd Qu.:5.000   3rd Qu.:3.000   3rd Qu.:5.00   3rd Qu.:5.000   3rd Qu.:3.000  
 Max.   :5.000   Max.   :5.000   Max.   :5.00   Max.   :5.000   Max.   :5.000  
      V25       
 Min.   :1.000  
 1st Qu.:1.000  
 Median :1.000  
 Mean   :1.687  
 3rd Qu.:2.000  
 Max.   :5.000  

According to the package, we have a database with 300 observations and 10 variables, where 6 items measure physical aggression and we have 4 markers of social desirability. Items 1, 2, 3, and 4 are markers of DS (“pure” measures of DS), and the remaining 6 items measure physical aggression. Items 5, 7 and 8 are in the positive pole of the target construct and items 6, 9 and 10 are written in the negative pole of the target construct.

To perform the analysis controlling both desirability and acquiescence, simply use the following code.

res <- ControlResponseBias(vampyr_example,
                           content_factors = 1,
                           SD_items = c(1,2,3,4),
                           corr = "Polychoric",
                           contAC = TRUE,
                           unbalanced_items = c(),
                           rotat = "promin",
                           PA = FALSE,
                           factor_scores = FALSE,
                           path = TRUE
                           )



DETAILS OF ANALYSIS

Number of participants                      :   300 
Number of items                             :    10 
Items selected as SD items                  :  1, 2, 3, 4
Dispersion Matrix                           : Polychoric Correlations
Method for factor extraction                : Unweighted Least Squares (ULS)
Rotation Method                             : none

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Univariate item descriptives

Item       Mean        Variance    Skewness     Kurtosis (Zero centered)

Item   1   3.667       1.260      -0.555       -0.566
Item   2   3.263       1.760      -0.379       -1.005
Item   3   2.317       1.695       0.601       -0.880
Item   4   2.947       1.924      -0.033       -1.284
Item   5   3.643       1.374      -0.565       -0.535
Item   6   2.467       1.802       0.487       -0.967
Item   7   3.710       1.678      -0.652       -0.716
Item   8   3.493       1.629      -0.411       -0.862
Item   9   1.997       1.515       1.041       -0.011
Item  10   1.687       0.925       1.293        0.838

Polychoric correlation is advised when the univariate distributions of ordinal items are
asymmetric or with excess of kurtosis. If both indices are lower than one in absolute value,
then Pearson correlation is advised. You can read more about this subject in:

Muthen, B., & Kaplan D. (1985). A Comparison of Some Methodologies for the Factor Analysis of
Non-Normal Likert Variables. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 38, 171-189.

Muthen, B., & Kaplan D. (1992). A Comparison of Some Methodologies for the Factor Analysis of
Non-Normal Likert Variables: A Note on the Size of the Model. British Journal of Mathematical
and Statistical Psychology, 45, 19-30. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Adequacy of the dispersion matrix

Determinant of the matrix     = 0.047816437916936
Bartlett's statistic          =   896.4 (df =    45; P = 0.000000)
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test = 0.76664 (fair)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS CONTROLLING SOCIAL DESIRABILITY AND ACQUIESCENCE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Robust Goodness of Fit statistics

          Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.032

 Robust Mean-Scaled Chi Square with 23 degrees of freedom = 30.146

              Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI; Tucker & Lewis) = 0.989
                              Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.994
                              Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.977

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                  Root Mean Square Residuals (RMSR) = 0.0452
Expected mean value of RMSR for an acceptable model = 0.0578 (Kelley's criterion)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Unrotated loading matrix

         Factor SD Factor AC Factor 1
Item   1   0.60257   0.00000  0.00000
Item   2   0.51526   0.00000  0.00000
Item   3   0.72709   0.00000  0.00000
Item   4   0.71130   0.00000  0.00000
Item   5  -0.07851   0.23761  0.54830
Item   6   0.27519   0.00229 -0.49056
Item   7  -0.16412   0.57413  0.70142
Item   8  -0.14319   0.54057  0.59108
Item   9   0.26559   0.19610 -0.66805
Item  10   0.31732   0.06250 -0.68220

This analysis allows controlling the effects of two response biases: Social Desirability and Acquiescence, extracting the variance due to these factors before extracting the content variance. If you don’t have or want to control acquiescence, just remove the SD_items = c(1,2,3,4) argument.

We do not always have an instrument that is completely balanced, that is, we do not always have the same number of positive and negative items in an instrument. This must be said to the function, just put the column position of the items in your database in the unbalanced_items = c() argument. For example, if the items in columns 10, 11, and 17 of your database are items that do not have an opposite pole, you would put the argument as follows: unbalanced_items = c(10,11,17). The items you place in this argument will not be used in the calculation.

We see that Bartlett’s test of sphericity and KMO were calculated before proceeding with Exploratory Factor Analysis. Furthermore, the model fit indices were calculated. We also see that items 6, 9 and 10 have even high loadings on the desirability factor (“Factor SD”), and items 5, 7 and 8 on the acquiescence factor (“Factor AC”).

The function allows you to calculate people’s factor scores. Factor scores work like when you calculate the mean scores of an instrument to correlate with others, but calculating averages has certain assumptions, while factor scores have others. So, to calculate the factor scores while controlling the DS and acquiescence biases, simply leave the factor scores argument as TRUE (factor_scores = TRUE) and save the result in some variable. In our case, we save the results in the res variable.

To save only the factor scores, simply extract the scores from the res list.

scores <- res$Factor_scores

This way, just put this column of factor scores together with your data (using “cbind()”) and then calculate whatever analysis you want.

9.4.2 Controlling Acquiescence with Random Intercepts

First, we have to install the lavaan (Rosseel, 2012) package for the analyzes and the EGAnet (Golino & Christensen, 2023) package for the dataset.

install.packages("lavaan")
install.packages("EGAnet")

Next, we tell R that we are going to use the functions from the packages.

library(lavaan)
library(EGAnet)

Then, we must have information on which model we should test. In other words, we have to know the theory behind some instrument: how many factors we have, which items represent which factors, whether or not the factors are correlated, etc.

Let’s use the EGAnet package as an example (i.e., Wiener Matrizen-Test 2), which has 2 factors and items on the positive and negative pole.

model_RI <- '
              factor1 =~ NA*wmt1 + wmt2 + wmt3 + wmt5 + wmt11 +
              wmt12 + wmt13 + wmt15 + wmt16 + wmt17 + wmt18
              
              factor2 =~ NA*wmt4 + wmt6 + wmt7 + wmt8 + 
              wmt9 + wmt10 + wmt14
              
              # Random Intercepts
              acquiescence =~ 1*wmt1 + 1*wmt2 + 1*wmt3 + 1*wmt5 +
              1*wmt11 + 1*wmt12 + 1*wmt13 + 1*wmt15 + 1*wmt16 +
              1*wmt17 + 1*wmt18 + 1*wmt4 + 1*wmt6 + 1*wmt7 + 
              1*wmt8 + 1*wmt9 + 1*wmt10 + 1*wmt14
              
              factor1 ~~ 0*acquiescence
              factor2 ~~ 0*acquiescence
              
              acquiescence ~~ acquiescence
              
              factor1 ~~ 1*factor1
              factor2 ~~ 1*factor2
              '

Now let’s calculate the internal structure controlling for acquiescence.

sem.fit <- lavaan::sem(model = model_RI,
                      data = EGAnet::wmt2[,7:24],
                      estimator = 'WLSMV',
                      ordered = TRUE
                      )

lavaan::summary(sem.fit,
                fit.measures=TRUE,
                standardized=TRUE
        )
lavaan 0.6-19 ended normally after 43 iterations

  Estimator                                       DWLS
  Optimization method                           NLMINB
  Number of model parameters                        38

  Number of observations                          1185

Model Test User Model:
                                              Standard      Scaled
  Test Statistic                               232.896     285.231
  Degrees of freedom                               133         133
  P-value (Chi-square)                           0.000       0.000
  Scaling correction factor                                  0.873
  Shift parameter                                           18.557
    simple second-order correction                                

Model Test Baseline Model:

  Test statistic                             12385.490    7849.254
  Degrees of freedom                               153         153
  P-value                                        0.000       0.000
  Scaling correction factor                                  1.589

User Model versus Baseline Model:

  Comparative Fit Index (CFI)                    0.992       0.980
  Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI)                       0.991       0.977
                                                                  
  Robust Comparative Fit Index (CFI)                         0.922
  Robust Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI)                            0.910

Root Mean Square Error of Approximation:

  RMSEA                                          0.025       0.031
  90 Percent confidence interval - lower         0.020       0.026
  90 Percent confidence interval - upper         0.030       0.036
  P-value H_0: RMSEA <= 0.050                    1.000       1.000
  P-value H_0: RMSEA >= 0.080                    0.000       0.000
                                                                  
  Robust RMSEA                                               0.065
  90 Percent confidence interval - lower                     0.054
  90 Percent confidence interval - upper                     0.076
  P-value H_0: Robust RMSEA <= 0.050                         0.011
  P-value H_0: Robust RMSEA >= 0.080                         0.012

Standardized Root Mean Square Residual:

  SRMR                                           0.052       0.052

Parameter Estimates:

  Parameterization                               Delta
  Standard errors                           Robust.sem
  Information                                 Expected
  Information saturated (h1) model        Unstructured

Latent Variables:
                   Estimate  Std.Err  z-value  P(>|z|)   Std.lv  Std.all
  factor1 =~                                                            
    wmt1              0.233    0.065    3.580    0.000    0.233    0.233
    wmt2              0.607    0.066    9.213    0.000    0.607    0.607
    wmt3              0.449    0.061    7.410    0.000    0.449    0.449
    wmt5              0.314    0.062    5.054    0.000    0.314    0.314
    wmt11             0.019    0.074    0.260    0.795    0.019    0.019
    wmt12             0.061    0.074    0.828    0.408    0.061    0.061
    wmt13             0.110    0.069    1.603    0.109    0.110    0.110
    wmt15             0.136    0.070    1.947    0.052    0.136    0.136
    wmt16             0.126    0.071    1.772    0.076    0.126    0.126
    wmt17            -0.044    0.078   -0.568    0.570   -0.044   -0.044
    wmt18            -0.339    0.098   -3.452    0.001   -0.339   -0.339
  factor2 =~                                                            
    wmt4              0.300    0.056    5.328    0.000    0.300    0.300
    wmt6              0.504    0.052    9.750    0.000    0.504    0.504
    wmt7              0.352    0.055    6.452    0.000    0.352    0.352
    wmt8              0.269    0.057    4.695    0.000    0.269    0.269
    wmt9              0.393    0.054    7.292    0.000    0.393    0.393
    wmt10             0.477    0.054    8.910    0.000    0.477    0.477
    wmt14             0.227    0.060    3.817    0.000    0.227    0.227
  acquiescence =~                                                       
    wmt1              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt2              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt3              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt5              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt11             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt12             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt13             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt15             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt16             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt17             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt18             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt4              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt6              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt7              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt8              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt9              1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt10             1.000                               0.580    0.580
    wmt14             1.000                               0.580    0.580

Covariances:
                   Estimate  Std.Err  z-value  P(>|z|)   Std.lv  Std.all
  factor1 ~~                                                            
    acquiescence      0.000                               0.000    0.000
  factor2 ~~                                                            
    acquiescence      0.000                               0.000    0.000
  factor1 ~~                                                            
    factor2           0.591    0.078    7.602    0.000    0.591    0.591

Thresholds:
                   Estimate  Std.Err  z-value  P(>|z|)   Std.lv  Std.all
    wmt1|t1          -0.475    0.038  -12.521    0.000   -0.475   -0.475
    wmt2|t1          -0.881    0.042  -20.956    0.000   -0.881   -0.881
    wmt3|t1          -0.651    0.039  -16.544    0.000   -0.651   -0.651
    wmt5|t1          -0.475    0.038  -12.521    0.000   -0.475   -0.475
    wmt11|t1          0.447    0.038   11.833    0.000    0.447    0.447
    wmt12|t1          0.471    0.038   12.406    0.000    0.471    0.471
    wmt13|t1          0.195    0.037    5.311    0.000    0.195    0.195
    wmt15|t1          0.445    0.038   11.776    0.000    0.445    0.445
    wmt16|t1          0.412    0.038   10.972    0.000    0.412    0.412
    wmt17|t1          0.815    0.041   19.787    0.000    0.815    0.815
    wmt18|t1          0.641    0.039   16.320    0.000    0.641    0.641
    wmt4|t1          -0.158    0.037   -4.325    0.000   -0.158   -0.158
    wmt6|t1          -0.355    0.037   -9.533    0.000   -0.355   -0.355
    wmt7|t1          -0.208    0.037   -5.658    0.000   -0.208   -0.208
    wmt8|t1           0.116    0.037    3.164    0.002    0.116    0.116
    wmt9|t1          -0.158    0.037   -4.325    0.000   -0.158   -0.158
    wmt10|t1         -0.280    0.037   -7.569    0.000   -0.280   -0.280
    wmt14|t1          0.128    0.037    3.513    0.000    0.128    0.128

Variances:
                   Estimate  Std.Err  z-value  P(>|z|)   Std.lv  Std.all
    acquiescence      0.337    0.016   21.029    0.000    1.000    1.000
    factor1           1.000                               1.000    1.000
    factor2           1.000                               1.000    1.000
   .wmt1              0.609                               0.609    0.609
   .wmt2              0.295                               0.295    0.295
   .wmt3              0.462                               0.462    0.462
   .wmt5              0.565                               0.565    0.565
   .wmt11             0.663                               0.663    0.663
   .wmt12             0.659                               0.659    0.659
   .wmt13             0.651                               0.651    0.651
   .wmt15             0.645                               0.645    0.645
   .wmt16             0.647                               0.647    0.647
   .wmt17             0.661                               0.661    0.661
   .wmt18             0.548                               0.548    0.548
   .wmt4              0.573                               0.573    0.573
   .wmt6              0.409                               0.409    0.409
   .wmt7              0.539                               0.539    0.539
   .wmt8              0.591                               0.591    0.591
   .wmt9              0.508                               0.508    0.508
   .wmt10             0.436                               0.436    0.436
   .wmt14             0.611                               0.611    0.611

We can calculate from people’s factor scores, just use the following code.

scores <- lavaan::lavPredict(
                      sem.fit,
                      type = "lv",
                      method = "EBM",
                      label = TRUE,
                      append.data = TRUE,
                      optim.method = "bfgs" 
                      )

We see that in the variable “scores” the factor scores of each subject were calculated and these scores were added to their database.

9.4.3 Controlling Acquiescence with Random Intercepts Exploratory Graph Analysis

First, we have to install the EGAnet (Golino & Christensen, 2023) package for the analyzes and lavaan (Rosseel, 2012) for the fit indices.

install.packages("EGAnet")
install.packages("lavaan")

Next, we tell R that we are going to use the functions from the packages.

library(EGAnet)
library(lavaan)
EGA_RI<- EGAnet::riEGA(data = EGAnet::wmt2[,7:24])

We can also bootstrap controlling for acquiescence.

To get a summary of the results, just take the bootstrap output.

summary(boot.ri)
Model: GLASSO (EBIC)
Correlations: auto
Algorithm:  Walktrap
Unidimensional Method:  Louvain

----

EGA Type: riEGA 
Bootstrap Samples: 500 (Parametric)
                                               
                1     2     3     4     5     6
Frequency:  0.002 0.212 0.358 0.298 0.108 0.022

Median dimensions: 3 [1.02, 4.98] 95% CI

Additionally, we can take the stability output of the items.

EGAnet::itemStability(boot.ri)

EGA Type: riEGA 
Bootstrap Samples: 500 (Parametric)

Proportion Replicated in Dimensions:

 wmt1  wmt2  wmt3  wmt4  wmt5  wmt6  wmt7  wmt8  wmt9 wmt10 wmt11 wmt12 wmt13 
0.372 0.930 0.866 0.380 0.914 0.550 0.716 0.678 0.582 0.470 0.546 0.570 0.534 
wmt14 wmt15 wmt16 wmt17 wmt18 
0.638 0.302    NA 0.366 0.824 

We can see network loadings (similar to factor loadings), with the code:

Network_loadings <- EGAnet::net.loads(EGA_RI)

print(Network_loadings$std)
                  1           2            3           4   NA
wmt1   0.2444576992  0.14090479 -0.099319925 -0.06883984  NaN
wmt17  0.1370056212 -0.06756897 -0.002957388 -0.07293878  NaN
wmt4   0.1259691396  0.01879782  0.000000000  0.03862790  NaN
wmt13 -0.3415948996  0.04122247 -0.027042546  0.06328015  NaN
wmt2   0.0375993097  0.39120593  0.030746520  0.06192070 -Inf
wmt3  -0.0525405946  0.31695707  0.081803378 -0.09782837  NaN
wmt12 -0.0199842313  0.16013290  0.000000000 -0.02866109 -Inf
wmt5   0.0009795657  0.15399025  0.000000000  0.00000000  NaN
wmt15 -0.0426694270 -0.04768103  0.000000000  0.02031100  NaN
wmt18 -0.0662899852 -0.34965053 -0.098300041 -0.10194983  NaN
wmt7  -0.0291471025  0.03374619  0.285159251  0.01822694  NaN
wmt6   0.0000000000  0.06102596  0.188532984  0.10200772  NaN
wmt8  -0.0206784252  0.00000000  0.166287494  0.03269760  NaN
wmt9  -0.0626554022  0.04511705  0.102199182  0.29389997  NaN
wmt14 -0.0135862414 -0.06623797  0.026287115  0.22635876  NaN
wmt10 -0.0664420920  0.01628068  0.092074489  0.14410384  NaN
wmt11  0.0162793907 -0.01590575  0.000000000 -0.14361692  NaN
wmt16  0.0000000000 -0.01453624  0.000000000  0.00000000  NaN

This step by step must be repeated (removing items with low stability or factor loadings in the wrong dimensions) until the stability of the items is above 70% or 75%.

We were also able to obtain the fit through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis by EGAnet.

fit <- EGAnet::CFA(EGA_RI$EGA,
                   data = EGAnet::wmt2[,7:24],
                   estimator = "WLSMV",
                   plot.CFA = TRUE,
                   layout = "spring"
                  )
[1] "wmt1"  "wmt4"  "wmt13" "wmt17"
[1] "wmt2"  "wmt3"  "wmt5"  "wmt12" "wmt15" "wmt18"
[1] "wmt6" "wmt7" "wmt8"
[1] "wmt9"  "wmt10" "wmt11" "wmt14"

To request fit indices we can use lavaan.

lavaan::fitMeasures(fit$fit, fit.measures = "all")
                         npar                          fmin 
                       40.000                         0.098 
                        chisq                            df 
                      231.983                       113.000 
                       pvalue                  chisq.scaled 
                        0.000                       323.795 
                    df.scaled                 pvalue.scaled 
                      113.000                         0.000 
         chisq.scaling.factor                baseline.chisq 
                        0.741                     11168.058 
                  baseline.df               baseline.pvalue 
                      136.000                         0.000 
        baseline.chisq.scaled            baseline.df.scaled 
                     7229.787                       136.000 
       baseline.pvalue.scaled baseline.chisq.scaling.factor 
                        0.000                         1.555 
                          cfi                           tli 
                        0.989                         0.987 
                   cfi.scaled                    tli.scaled 
                        0.970                         0.964 
                   cfi.robust                    tli.robust 
                        0.888                         0.865 
                         nnfi                           rfi 
                        0.987                         0.975 
                          nfi                          pnfi 
                        0.979                         0.814 
                          ifi                           rni 
                        0.989                         0.989 
                  nnfi.scaled                    rfi.scaled 
                        0.964                         0.946 
                   nfi.scaled                   pnfi.scaled 
                        0.955                         0.794 
                   ifi.scaled                    rni.scaled 
                        0.970                         0.970 
                  nnfi.robust                    rni.robust 
                        0.865                         0.888 
                        rmsea                rmsea.ci.lower 
                        0.030                         0.024 
               rmsea.ci.upper                rmsea.ci.level 
                        0.035                         0.900 
                 rmsea.pvalue                rmsea.close.h0 
                        1.000                         0.050 
        rmsea.notclose.pvalue             rmsea.notclose.h0 
                        0.000                         0.080 
                 rmsea.scaled         rmsea.ci.lower.scaled 
                        0.040                         0.035 
        rmsea.ci.upper.scaled           rmsea.pvalue.scaled 
                        0.045                         1.000 
 rmsea.notclose.pvalue.scaled                  rmsea.robust 
                        0.000                         0.083 
        rmsea.ci.lower.robust         rmsea.ci.upper.robust 
                        0.072                         0.093 
          rmsea.pvalue.robust  rmsea.notclose.pvalue.robust 
                        0.000                         0.662 
                          rmr                    rmr_nomean 
                        0.053                         0.056 
                         srmr                  srmr_bentler 
                        0.056                         0.053 
          srmr_bentler_nomean                          crmr 
                        0.056                         0.056 
                  crmr_nomean                    srmr_mplus 
                        0.059                            NA 
            srmr_mplus_nomean                         cn_05 
                           NA                       709.467 
                        cn_01                           gfi 
                      771.074                         0.983 
                         agfi                          pgfi 
                        0.977                         0.726 
                          mfi                          wrmr 
                        0.951                         1.231 

We can calculate from people’s factor scores, just use the following code.

fe <- lavaan::lavPredict(fit$fit,
                         type = "lv",
                         method = "EBM", 
                         label = TRUE, 
                         append.data = TRUE,
                         optim.method = "bfgs" 
                         )

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