Li, W.; Mitchell, K. Preliminary Investigation of the Factor Structure of the 1991 Medical College Admission Test. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 1991. San Francisco, CA

PURPOSE: The objective of this investigation was analysis of the factor structure of the 1991 MCAT.

METHODS: Data from three samples of examinees taking the April1991 MCAT administration were used in this study. A principal axis factor procedure, whereby communality estimates replaced the correlation matrix diagonals during factor extraction, was used in all the analyses reported in this paper. An oblique rotation was applied to obtain correlations between rotated factors. The test structures across the three samples were examined.

RESULTS: The analysis resulted in identification of four factors, each corresponding with one of the 1991 test sections. The authors found that the Writing Sample and Verbal Reasoning sections of the 1991 MCAT had the expected internal structures. Physics items loaded on the Physical Sciences factor, and biology items loaded on the Biological Sciences factor. Organic chemistry variables loaded with Physical Sciences section variables as opposed to with the Biological Sciences section of the exam.

CONCLUSIONS: The authors stressed the fact that this study was exploratory in nature and presented only preliminary findings of the 1991 MCAT's construct validity. The authors suggested that the present study was to serve as necessary preparation for additional analyses meant to confirm the factor structure of the 1991 MCAT.

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