| Abstract: | Confirmatory factor analytic tests of measurement invariance (MI) require a referent indicator (RI) for model identification. Although the assumption that the RI is perfectly invariant across groups is acknowledged as problematic, the literature provides relatively little guidance for researchers to identify the conditions under which the practice is appropriate. Using simulated data, this study examined the effects of RI selection on both scale- and item-level MI tests. Results indicated that while inappropriate RI selection has little effect on the accuracy of conclusions drawn from scale-level tests of metric invariance, poor RI choice can produce very misleading results for item-level tests. As a result, group comparisons under conditions of partial invariance are highly susceptible to problems associated with poor RI choice. |
