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Factor Analysis II Paper-Session A Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach to Examine the Structure of Taiwan Aboriginal Acculturation Scale (TAAS) Li-Chiao Huang This study illustrate a methodology for investigate the measurement properties of the Taiwan Aboriginal Acculturation Scale (TAAS). This study uses confirmatory factor analytic methods to capture the construct of the TAAS. More specifically, the aim of this study is to study whether or not a hierarchical model accounts for the correlations among the items and how well each item measures the underlying dimensions. The Taiwan Aboriginal Study Project (TASP) has been in operation since 1986. The whole project involves four major aboriginal groups (the Atayal, Aim, Bunun, and Paiwan) and the Han Chinese in Taiwan. In brief, TASP includes studies of morbidity risks, clinical manifestations, course and outcome of major psychoses, depression, neuroses, alcohol use disorders, suicide and accidental death, and biological and sociocultural risk factors of these morbidities. As part of the TASP, a new acculturation scale has been developed among the aboriginal minorities in Taiwan. A total of 54 original TAAS items were constructed in Chinese according to Milton Gordon’s framework with Likert-scaled scoring system ranking from 0 to 3. These items were administered to 144 subjects stratified by age and sex who were randomly sampled from four major Taiwan aboriginal groups. In the current study, apart from confirming the construct of acculturation (cultural of upbringing, cultural assimilation, social assimilation, and social attitude), the model with multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC model) is also used to detect and describe non-invariance of the approach offers a way to analyze the subgroups jointly, allowing for subgroup differences both in the distributions of the factors and in their measurements. Investigating Group Differences Using SEM: Implications of Strict Factorial Invariance Gitta Lubke, C. V. Dolan & Henk Kelderman Strict factorial invariance (Meredith, 1993) consists of the composite hypothesis that factor loadings, error variances and intercepts of the regression of observed scores on the factor(s) are equal over the groups. Within the field of behavioral genetics it is generally agreed that one cannot infer from within group differences to between group differences. On the other hand, within the context of SEM, the relation between observed group differences and group differences in factor means is modeled using the within group measurement model (Sörbom, 1974). Consequently, if strict factorial invariance is tenable, the same measurement model holds for within and between group differences. An implication is that, if a single factor model holds for the within and between differences, it is impossible to decompose the group difference in the mean of the single factor in, say, environmental and genetic influences. Further important issues are (1) the power to reject strict factorial invariance, and (2) the power to distinguish between models representing competing hypotheses regarding group differences. These issues are discussed taking observed differences between blacks and whites on commonly used cognitive tests as an example. References: [1] Meredith, W. (1993). Measurement invariance, factor analysis, and factorial invariance. Psychometrika, 58(4), 525-543. [2] Sörbom, D. (1974). A general method for studying differences in factor means and factor structure between groups. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 27, 229-239. Psychometric Assessment of a Measure of Perceived Importance of Quality of Worklife (QWL) Factors Ali-Yusob Md-Zain & Bidin Yatim This paper presents the results of a research conducted in Malaysia to develop a measure of perceived importance of quality of worklife (QWL) factors among non-supervisory employees. A sample of 672 employees in government, semi-government, and private organizations participated in this study. The approach taken in this study was to view QWL in terms of perceived organizational conditions, as opposed to other views which regard QWL as either intervention strategies for organizational improvements or as an institutional approach in creating workplace democracy. In this study, the conceptual categories proposed by Walton (1974) were adopted as the basis for designing the QWL measure. Walton provided eight aspects in which employees' perceptions toward their work organizations could determine their QWL. Both exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used to examine the underlying dimensions of perceived importance of QWL factors. Results from CFA indicated that the seven-factor solution provided a better fit to the data than the five-factor solution as suggested by EFA. The seven dimensions of QWL obtained were: growth and development, participation opportunities, physical work environment, supervision, rewards, social relevance, and workplace integration. Estmation of Factor Scores Peter M. C. Molenaar & C. V. Dolan Standard methods to estimate latent factor scores in structural equation models are derived under the invalid assumption that the model parameters (e.g., factor loadings) are known. We will present a new factor score estimation technique which accommodates the uncertainties in the estimated model parameters. The new technique is based upon recursive estimation techniques for state space modeling. Results from simulation studies will be presented.