Factor analysis of construct validity: a review of nursing articles

ABSTRACT

Use of valid and reliable instruments is the important way for collecting data in quantitative researches. This study was conducted to examine the extent of factor analysis use for specifying construct validity of instruments in quantitative research papers published in an internationally recognized journal. An internationally recognized journal, Nursing Research, was chosen for the review. All articles published in 2003 in this journal were reviewed. Only quantitative research articles that used instruments in need of construct validity verification were included. Each article was completely reviewed to identify the methods of instrument validation. Among 55 research articles, 40 [73%] were quantitative. Among these 40 articles, 8 articles [20%] were dealing with developing an instrument and one article was a meta-analysis and these 9 articles were excluded. Of the other 31 articles, only 4 [12.9%] used a method for specifying the construct validity of the instrument in the study and 2 [6.5%] used factor analysis for establishing construct validity of the instrument. Although factor analysis is a well recognized method in establishing the construct validity but its use is much less than expected