A Note on Comparing the Bifactor and Second-Order Factor Models: Is the Bayesian Information Criterion a Routinely Dependable Index for Model Selection?

Abstract

This note demonstrates that the widely used Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) need not be generally viewed as a routinely dependable index for model selection when the bifactor and second-order factor models are examined as rival means for data description and explanation. To this end, we use an empirically relevant setting with multidimensional measuring instrument components, where the bifactor model is found consistently inferior to the second-order model in terms of the BIC even though the data on a large number of replications at different sample sizes were generated following the bifactor model. We therefore caution researchers that routine reliance on the BIC for the purpose of discriminating between these two widely used models may not always lead to correct decisions with respect to model choice.