A Primer on Bootstrap Factor Analysis as Applied to Health Studies Research

Objectives: To demonstrate how the bootstrap method could be conducted in exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with a syntax written in SPSS. Methods: The data obtained from the Texas Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy Evaluation project (T-COPPE project) were used for illustration. A 5-step procedure to conduct bootstrap factor analysis (BFA) was introduced: (1) conduct principal component analysis, (2) create the target matrix, (3) resample with replacement, (4) conduct EFA and Procrustes rotation, and (5) calculate BFA results. Results: Results of the illustrated BFA example indicated that the 15 variables from this study were stable across the resamples. Conclusions: The bootstrap method, when applied in EFA for health-related research, is a particularly powerful internal replicability analysis.