I am doing undegrad thesis sand I stumble on some major problems when doing factors analysis:
My research topic is to compare the attitude of people towards 2 types of products (namely A and B).
My naive original plan was to create then compare 2 homogenous SEM models for each type of products and the proposed model is based on prior researches as well as my own rationale, so I guess I would have to perform EFA on one part of the data and the CFA and SEM for the rest (N=150).
However, when doing EFA, the variables loading in unwanted way and for each type of product, each set of data has a different pattern, thus, it is impossible to carry out my plan.
Now, I am thinking of merging the answers for 2 types of products into 1, since I have 2 set of similar questions asking the same aspects but of different objects (A or B). Additionally, there would be another column to distinguish 1-for product A and 0-for product B.
Pro: With an unified poll of data, I will only need to make one model.
Cons: I am not sure yet how to make the comparison if doing so.
I cannot tell which 2 opinions come from whom (which I don't think necessary).
And, instead of having N =150, it would be N=300, I don't know whether this will lead to false statistical results.
SO...
1. CAN I SKIP DOING EFA and jump on CFA right away?
2. If not, will my solution of merging fix my problem?
3. If not gain, what else can I do?
Thank you in advance!!!