# The method used for computation of factor scores in lavaan from confirmatory factor analysis

I'm running CFA {lavaan}; function cfa() in R.

https://psychology.okstate.edu/faculty/jgrice/personalitylab/Grice_FactorScores_PM_2001.pdf details a number of different methods for extracting factor scores from factor analysis, based on a linear combination of values from each variable.

I'm wondering if anyone knows which of these methods is used when running the predict() function on a model defined by the cfa() function in {lavaan} in R?

For exploratory factor analysis, using the fa() function in the {psych} package, you can choose which factor extraction method to use. I can't see an option to choose which method to use for cfa() in {lavaan}, nor can I find an explanation of which method is used.

Thanks very much for your help.

• If you are only asking how the R code works, that would be off topic here (see our help center). You could ask on the r-help listserv, I suppose. If you have a statistical question about CFA, please edit to clarify. Otherwise, this will end up being closed. – gung Jun 9 '16 at 16:43
• searching the site for factor scores lavaan returnes more than 3 questions very similar to yours. Did you see them? – ttnphns Jun 9 '16 at 18:17

lavaan objects are an S4 class, so to view the predict method, you would type getMethod('predict', 'lavaan'). Basically, the workhorse function is lavPredict which you should consult the help on.