Empirical Taxonomy of Religious Individuals: An Investigation among College Students

Abstract

Factor analytic studies of religion have suggested that several aspects of the religious phenomenon do not necessarily covary with each other. Individuals may manifest their religiosity in different ways through a unique combination of high and/or low values on religious variables. A taxonomy of religious individuals can indicate the different approaches to religiosity, i.e., what types of religious individuals there are. Using hierarchical agglomerative cl~ter analysis, an empirical taxonomy of religious individuals was developed on questionnaire data from 220 student respondents. The research instrument was designed to cover the conceptual sphere of traditional religiosity. Seven types were f ound: the Outsiders, the Conservatives, the Rejectors, the Modern Religious, the Marginally Religious, the Orthodox, and the Cuhurally Religious. The scientific utility of the typologh was supported when differences between the types on additional demographic and religious variables were examined. The contributions made by the study are discussed in terms of the relationship between the present findings and those of past studies. Suggestions are made for subsequent research.

Religiosity scale development

“…Therefore, conservative believers would vary from the liberal believers in adhering or following such rules and regulations, which affect consumptions and the level of cognition and behaviour in individual purchasing decisions. For instance, sociologists have found seven types of taxonomy of religious individuals such as the outsiders, the conservatives, the rejectors, the modern religious, the marginally religious, the orthodox and the culturally religious (Filsinger et al, 1979). However, religiosity levels are also viewed as a continuum in psychology from low to highly religious (Reber et al, 2009).…”

Do Organizational Cultures Replicate National Cultures? Isomorphism, Rejection and Reciprocal Opposition in the Corporate Values of Three Countries

“…Following Filsinger et al (1979), we subjected our cluster solutions to discriminant analyses. Aldenerfer and Blashfield (1984, see particularly footnote 3 in Chapter 4) have criticized this technique by arguing that random, normally distributed data can yield significant one-way ANOVAS when subjected to cluster algorithms.…”

Mental representations of the supernatural: A cluster analysis of religiosity, spirituality and paranormal belief

“…There are no strict rules concerning sample sizes on Cluster Analysis (Dolnicar, 2002). Sample sizes in previous research using cluster analysis vary: n = 220 for a study on religious belief using 37 variables (Filsinger, Faulkner, & Warland, 1979) and n = 228 for a study examining paranormal belief using seven variables (Irwin, 1997). Therefore a sample of n > 300 was deemed to be adequate.…”