Introduction:

Exploratory factor analysis is commonly used to assess the validity of the internal structure in oral health quality of life scales. However, there are discussions about using principal component analysis indiscriminately to extract the factors.

Objective:

To compare the results of the internal structure-based validity of the Parental-Caregiver Perception Questionnaire - 8 items by exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis and other factor estimation extraction methods.

Methods:

A literature review was conducted to examine the use of exploratory factor analysis and its methods in validating oral health-related quality of life scales, and a factor analysis was performed with validation data from the Parental-Caregiver Perception instrument. Questionnaire - version 8 to compare the values ​​of the communalities and the factor loads of the solutions extracted.

Results:

Most of the articles that explored the factorial structure reported the analysis of principal components as extraction method and Varimax in rotation. Information on the criteria for using these methods was insufficient. In the factorial analysis, it was obtained that the factorial loads, the communities and the number of extracted factors were higher with the principals component method.

Conclusion:

Using principal components analysis as a factor extraction method carries the risk of obtaining an overestimated dimensionality in the validity assessment based on the internal structure of oral health-related quality of life scales.

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