IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/somere/v15y1987i4p375-384.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Outliers and Improper Solutions

Author

Listed:
  • KENNETH A. BOLLEN

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Abstract

A common occurrence in structural equation models are “improper solutions.†Estimates of negative variances of measurement errors, negative variances of equation errors, or correlations between latent variables that are greater than one are instances of improper solutions. Recent work has begun to examine the causes and cures for these problems but the role of outliers in generating improper solutions has been overlooked. The purposes of this article are threefold: (1) to explain how outliers can lead to improper solutions, (2) to use a confirmatory factor analysis example to demonstrate this, and (3) to encourage researchers to check for this possibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth A. Bollen, 1987. "Outliers and Improper Solutions," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 15(4), pages 375-384, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:15:y:1987:i:4:p:375-384
    DOI: 10.1177/0049124187015004002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0049124187015004002
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0049124187015004002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Rindskopf, 1983. "Parameterizing inequality constraints on unique variances in linear structural models," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 73-83, March.
    2. Otto Driel, 1978. "On various causes of improper solutions in maximum likelihood factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 43(2), pages 225-243, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Rindskopf, 1984. "Structural Equation Models," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 13(1), pages 109-119, August.
    2. Tsonaka, R. & Moustaki, I., 2007. "Parameter constraints in generalized linear latent variable models," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 51(9), pages 4164-4177, May.
    3. Roderick McDonald, 1986. "Describing the elephant: Structure and function in multivariate data," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 51(4), pages 513-534, December.
    4. Anne Boomsma, 1985. "Nonconvergence, improper solutions, and starting values in lisrel maximum likelihood estimation," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 229-242, June.
    5. Leland Wilkinson, 1989. "A Cautionary Note on the Use of Factor Analysis:," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 17(4), pages 449-459, May.
    6. Kevin M Cummins & Eileen V Pitpitan & Ty Brumback & Tyler M Moore & Ryan S Trim & Duncan B Clark & Sandra A Brown & Susan F Tapert, 2022. "Comparison of factor analysis models applied to the NCANDA neuropsychological test battery," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-22, February.
    7. Kohei Adachi, 2013. "Factor Analysis with EM Algorithm Never Gives Improper Solutions when Sample Covariance and Initial Parameter Matrices Are Proper," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 78(2), pages 380-394, April.
    8. Feinian Chen & Kenneth A. Bollen & Pamela Paxton & Patrick J. Curran & James B. Kirby, 2001. "Improper Solutions in Structural Equation Models," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 29(4), pages 468-508, May.
    9. David Gerbing & James Anderson, 1987. "Improper solutions in the analysis of covariance structures: Their interpretability and a comparison of alternate respecifications," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 52(1), pages 99-111, March.
    10. Bryan, Victoria M. & Mayer, John D., 2020. "A meta-analysis of the correlations among broad intelligences: Understanding their relations," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. Yutaka Kano & Masamori Ihara, 1994. "Identification of inconsistent variates in factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 5-20, March.
    12. Wang, Wan-Lun & Castro, Luis M. & Lin, Tsung-I, 2017. "Automated learning of t factor analysis models with complete and incomplete data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 157-171.
    13. Sungki Kim & Sanggyun Choi & Chanho Kim, 2021. "The Framework for Measuring Port Resilience in Korean Port Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, October.
    14. Ichikawa, Masanori & Konishi, Sadanori, 2002. "Asymptotic Expansions and Bootstrap Approximations in Factor Analysis," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 47-66, April.
    15. Yuki Nozaki & Alicia Puente-Martínez & Moïra Mikolajczak, 2019. "Evaluating the higher-order structure of the Profile of Emotional Competence (PEC): Confirmatory factor analysis and Bayesian structural equation modeling," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, November.
    16. Vjekoslav Klaric, 2011. "Estimating the size of non-observed economy in Croatia using the MIMIC approach," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 35(1), pages 59-90.
    17. Ihara, Masamori & Kano, Yutaka, 1995. "Identifiability of full, marginal, and conditional factor analysis models," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 343-350, June.
    18. Katrina M Groth & Ali Mosleh, 2012. "Deriving causal Bayesian networks from human reliability analysis data: A methodology and example model," Journal of Risk and Reliability, , vol. 226(4), pages 361-379, August.
    19. Kei Hirose & Miyuki Imada, 2018. "Sparse factor regression via penalized maximum likelihood estimation," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 633-662, June.
    20. Lee, Hanjoon & Delene, Linda M. & Bunda, Mary Anne & Kim, Chankon, 2000. "Methods of Measuring Health-Care Service Quality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 233-246, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:15:y:1987:i:4:p:375-384. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.