USING AND MISUSING FACTOR-ANALYSIS TO EXPLORE GROUP COHESION

Group cohesion is an important construct in understanding the behavior of different types of groups. However, controversy exists about how t o conceptualize and measure cohesion, and a central issue is its dimen sionality. Consequently, researchers have used factor analysis to exam ine the structure of the construct of cohesion and measures of it. Our goals in writing this article were to review critically how factor an alysis has been used to understand group cohesion, make some recommend ations for future factor analytic work, and point out some weaknesses and strengths in using factor analysis to explore cohesion.