Measuring Religiosity/Spirituality in Diverse Religious Groups: A Consideration of Methods

Abstract

Minority religious groups continue to grow in the United States, and traditional religious groups are becoming more diverse. The purpose of this paper is to detail the methodology of the measure adaptation and psychometric phase of an ongoing study that is designed to describe the relationship between R/S, emotional extremes, and risk behaviors in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim high school students as they transition to college. Unique challenges associated with measurement, recruitment, and research team dynamics were encountered. These challenges and possible solutions are discussed in the context of conducting research that focuses on religious minority groups.

Minority Participation and Well-Being in Majority Catholic Nations: What Does it Mean to be a Religious Minority?

“…Not surprisingly, there is a significant correlation between religious service attendance and active membership (p \ .001) in a religious organization, but nearly 29 % of non-Catholics that attend religious services once a week or more do not consider themselves active members of their religious organization. 6 In addition, since the individuals in this study come from a variety of religious groups, it is important to use a measure of religious commitment that does not overlook participation in a particular faith community (Berry et al 2011). Measures like religious service attendance represent a Christo-centric interpretation of religious participation that does not capture the religious fervor of individuals from many non-Christian faiths (Bender et al 2013).…”

A Platform for Nursing Research on Spirituality and Religiosity

“…The need to consider specific faith traditions in research is important to understand the role of spirituality or religion in health. Berry, Bass, Forawi, Neuman, and Abdallah (2011) acknowledged the importance of these differences and are adapting measures of religion/spirituality for use in Jewish and Muslim populations. They are doing focus groups with adolescents of various backgrounds to develop appropriate measures of spirituality for diverse groups.…”

Successfully recruiting, surveying, and retaining college students: A description of methods for the risk, religiosity, and Emerging Adulthood Study

“…In this article, we describe the methods of Phase 2 of this study. Phase 1—reported elsewhere (Berry, Bass, Forawi, Neuman, & Abdallah, 2011)—was primarily concerned with instrument development. Phase 1 of this study began in September 2008 and Phase 2, in September 2010.…”

“…As the measures had generally been developed and tested in Christian populations, Phase 1 of this research was concerned primarily with the adaptation process for Jewish and Muslim versions. The adapted measures included The Spiritual Meaning Scale (Fetzer Institute, 1999), the Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale (Hoge, 1972), the Brief Religious Coping Scale (Brief RCOPE; Pargament, Smith, Koenig, & Perez, 1998), the Religious Background and Behavior Questionnaire (Connors, Tonigan, & Miller, 1996), and the Beliefs about God Scale (Berry et al, 2011). Adaptation occurred through an iterative process that included community‐based religious content experts, student focus groups, and pilot testing.…”

“…Adaptation occurred through an iterative process that included community‐based religious content experts, student focus groups, and pilot testing. Details regarding the adaptation process are reported elsewhere (Berry et al, 2011).…”