Modeling Intraindividual Variability via Dynamic Factor Analysis: Appling Multi-Groups Strategy for Modeling Simultaneously Intraindividual Variability

Abstract

This study investigates the characteristics of intraindividual variability. Reviewing P-technique factor analysis and dynamic factor analysis (DFA) as applied to the field of psychology, the methodology of multiple-group simultaneous structural equation modeling for DFA was examined. This research was comprised of six participants who voluntary completed questionnaires about adjective neuroticism and extraversion items from the Big Five personality theory, over a period of hundred days. An invariant measurement model across six persons and structure models differed with participants were estimated at the adaptable model fit level from the multi-individual DFA. While observed items were highly variable and differed among participants, the invariant factor structure and time-structure of intraindividual variability were reported for all six participants. The utility of the DFA modeling with multiple-individual to examine the nature of intraindividual variability across individuals was discussed form the perspective of both an idiographic and a nomothetic approaches to the study of behavior.