The application and utility of confirmatory second-order factor analytic methods are discussed. Factor analysis is central to concerns regarding measurement validity. Confirmatory methods are especially useful because they explicitly consider measurement error influences and because the methods are inherently theory-driven and theory-oriented. Second-order confirmatory methods, which have not been applied with great frequency in the literature, allow the researcher to explore more thoroughly a reality that may be just as complex as are other formulated models. To make the explanation of applying confirmatory second-order methods more concrete, a data set involving responses of 487 undergraduates and graduate students (representing three pooled samples from previous research studies) to the Hendrick-Hendrick love instrument was analyzed for heuristic purposes. Two tables contain data from the study. Two appendices contain seven additional tables related to the analysis. A 31-item list of references is included. (Author/SLD)