Trouble running confirmatory factor analysis in R: File opening issue

CFA
1

Hey everyone, I’m stuck with a problem while doing a confirmatory factor analysis in R. I’m getting this weird error when I try to run the fit command:

Error in file(file, "r") : cannot open the connection
In addition: Warning message:
In file(file, "r") : cannot open file ' independence =~ x1 + x2 + x3 + x4
          therapies =~ x5': No such file or directory

Here’s the code I’m using:

data_set <- data.frame(raw_data)
my_model <- ' factor1 =~ var1 + var2 + var3 + var4
              factor2 =~ var5 + var6'

result <- cfa(my_model, data=data_set)

summary(result, fit.measures = TRUE)

I’ve been following a tutorial, but I can’t figure out why R thinks my model is a file. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong? Thanks in advance for your help!

2

I encountered a similar issue when I first started working with confirmatory factor analysis in R. The error you’re seeing suggests that R is interpreting your model specification as a file path rather than a character string. This can occur if there are issues with the way quotes are used. You might accidentally be using smart quotes rather than the standard straight quotes.

Try rewriting your model specification with straight quotes:

my_model <- ' factor1 =~ var1 + var2 + var3 + var4
              factor2 =~ var5 + var6'

If that doesn’t fix the issue, double-check that you’ve loaded the necessary libraries (such as lavaan) before you run the cfa() function. Also, confirm that the variable names in your model match those in your dataset exactly, and that your data is properly loaded. Sometimes data import issues can create unexpected errors.

3

hey hugo, sounds like a pain! i had a similar issue. check ur quotes - sometimes fancy quotes from word docs mess things up. also, make sure ur lavaan package is loaded (library(lavaan)). if that doesnt work, try writing the model in a separate file and use readLines() to load it. good luck!

4

Hey Hugo_Storm! That error’s a real head-scratcher, isn’t it? :thinking: I’ve been down that rabbit hole before, and it can be super frustrating. Have you double-checked that you’re not accidentally using any funky characters in your model specification? Sometimes text editors can sneak in weird invisible characters that mess everything up.

Also, just curious - what version of R and lavaan are you using? I’ve noticed some quirks with older versions. Oh, and have you tried running your code in a fresh R session? Sometimes clearing the environment can work wonders.

Keep us posted on how it goes! We’re all rooting for you to crack this CFA code. :muscle: