Abstract: Applications of structure-oriented techniques to investigate cross-group or cross-situation factorial agreement/similarity are common practices in psychological researches (e.g. cross-cultural research). Exploratory factor analysis followed with target/Procrustes rotation and factorial agreement/similarity assessment is an approach to accomplish this purpose. In this article, the brief principle of orthogonal Procrustes rotation is introduced, then, the application in psychological researches is reviewed, and some related software and procedure are recommended. After target rotation, factorial agreement can be measured by some indications like congruence coefficient, which can be tested according to empirical sampling distribution or rule of thumb. The proposed analysis procedure for assessing factorial agreement is illustrated with empirical data of positive affect and negative affect of male and female adolescents. Finally, most of the important issues in the three stages of the procedure are summarized.

Key words: exploratory factor analysis, target rotation, factorial agreement