Can anyone help me with the sample size calculation for the exploratory factor analysis? Do you know how to calculate it and with which statistical program? Thank you.
Hi Fernando Calvo,
Many resources are available, including but not limited to:
- TIBCO Statistica® User's Guide - https://docs.tibco.com/pub/stat/14.0.0/doc/html/UsersGuide/GUID-D1C6BF83-A6E9-4981-9188-1F0AA3888B42.html
- MacCallum et al., "Power Analysis and Determination of Sample Size for Covariance Structure Modeling", 1996 - http://ww.w.statpower.net/Content/312/Handout/MacCallumBrowneSugawara96.pdf
- Bujang et al., "Sample Size Guideline for Exploratory Factor Analysis When Using Small Sample: Taking into Considerations of Different Measurement Scales", 2012 - https://booksc.org/book/32664079/26be94
- Pearson et al., "Recommended Sample Size for Conducting Exploratory Factor Analysis on Dichotomous Data", 2010 - https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1390&context=jmasm
You can also take a look at this related issue on RG: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-is-the-minimum-sample-size-for-factor-analysis
Regards
Thank you very much for your kind and quick response. I'll get right on it.
https://www.calculator.net/sample-size-calculator.html
Try this page for your need. You should use the Slovin formula or Cochran to minimize your population
Fernando Calvo, there are a number of recommendations concerning the desirable sample size for exploratory factor analysis - and they don't always agree with each other.
The simplest recommendation is to aim for 10 times the number of people as there are items to be submitted to EFA. So, if you have 20 items, you'd need 200 people. That's the recommendation in the following chapter:
Dixon, AE. Exploratory factor analysis. In Plitchta SB, Kelvin EA, editors. Munro’s statistical methods for health care research. 6th ed. Philadelphia, PA. Wolters Kluwer; 2013. pp. 371–398.
There are other recommendations, however. My colleagues and I dealt with them in an article we'd had published nearly 2 years ago:
Ma, K., Trevethan, R., & Lu, S. (2019). Measuring teacher sense of efficacy: Insights and recommendations concerning scale design and data analysis from research with preservice and inservice teachers in China. Frontiers of Education in China, 14(4), 612–686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-019-0029-1
It's an open-access article. Check out the middle paragraph on page 628 for several recommendations, and choose whatever seems most appropriate to your situation.
All the best with your research.
There is no easy way to specify the sample size required for exploratory factor analysis. Some researchers recommended that the sample-size-to-parameter ratio (i.e., individuals-to-variable ratio) should be 10:1 (e.g., Hair et al., 2019); others suggested 20:1 (e.g., Kline, 2016). Generally, as a rule of thumb, the sample size should not be less than 100. Here are the full citations.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage. https://www.cengage.com/c/multivariate-data-analysis-8e-hair/9781473756540/
Kline, R. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). The Guilford Press. https://www.guilford.com/books/Principles-and-Practice-of-Structural-Equation-Modeling/Rex-Kline/9781462523344
Good luck,
I agree with Robert Trevethan it is recommended to use at least 10 subjects per item of the instrument for item analysis and exploratory factor analysis.
You can calculate it using IBM SPSS, there are many video on YouTube that show you how to run Factor Analysis .
Good luck.
- Dear Dr. Fernando Calvo , as per my understanding, the process of doing EFA is more complex than required sample size calculations, as you will find vast variety in the difference of opinion on required sample size for EFA. Much easier is the one Prof. Robert Trevethan suggested. However, I found Jason W Osborne's text a valuable source for EFA related issues and process. The RG link is given below. Tq.
Book Best Practices in Exploratory Factor Analysis
Thank you very much to everyone. Nice people. I believe I already have the necessary tools. Thank you again.
Dear Fernando Calvo , Article Mundfrom DJ, Shaw DG, Lu Ke TMinimum sample size recommendat...
This one could be an excellent read regarding your topic of interest.
there are number of recommendations about the sample size regarding EFA. 10* number of items in your scale. some says 5*number of items in your scale. means if u have 10 items in scale then you can go with 5*10=50 persons or 10*10= 100 persons. however, the ideal sample size is 150. further you can go with the book of Andy field.
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