TEACHER'S CORNER: Examining Identification Issues in Factor Analysis

Abstract One hundred years have passed since the birth of factor analysis, during which time there have been some major developments and extensions to the methodology. Unfortunately, one issue where the widespread accumulation of knowledge has been rather slow concerns identification. This article provides a didactic discussion of the topic in an attempt to draw more researchers' attention to the potential consequences of ignoring identification issues. Because of the mathematical complexity of the topic and some special characteristics of the model, the focus is mainly on identification issues in exploratory factor analysis.