What is Measurement Invariance

This chapter describes the importance of measurement in social research and education research. In order to validly compare across groups, whether it is age, gender, ethnicities, or cultures, measurement invariance needs to be established. This is accomplished through single-group and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. The procedural approach is presented with a detailed illustration from real research in servant leadership in K-12 principals in the United States. Second-order confirmatory factor analysis is described due to its popularity. Procedural steps are cited, and an example is given for illustration. As a major statistical technique in instrument development, exploratory factor analysis is discussed and illustrated at the beginning of this chapter.