Faith Development Scale

Abstract

The Faith Development Scale (FDS), also known as the Faith Styles Scale (FSS) or the Fowler Scale, is a psychological instrument developed by Barnes, Doyle, and Johnson in 1989. This scale was formulated to empirically assess the stages of faith as theorized by James Fowler. It utilizes a forced-choice format across nine items, requiring respondents to express a preference between two contrasting statements that reflect different developmental orientations toward religious belief and practice. The scale was initially validated among Catholic populations and provides a quantifiable measure of an individual’s adherence to specific developmental faith styles.

Keywords

Faith Development Scale, Faith Styles Scale (FSS), James Fowler, Stage Theory, Religious Beliefs, Empirical Assessment, Psychological Measurement, Religiosity, Spiritual Development.

Authors

M. Barnes, D. Doyle, B. Johnson.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Faith Development Scale is to provide an efficient, quantitative measure of an individual’s stage of faith development based on the theoretical framework established by James Fowler. Fowler’s theory posits that faith progresses through a series of predictable, sequential stages, analogous to cognitive and moral development theories.

Specifically, the authors—Barnes, Doyle, and Johnson (1989)—aimed to create a short, reliable instrument that could be administered broadly, particularly within religious populations, to move beyond the time-intensive, qualitative interview methods traditionally used to assess Fowler’s stages. The goal was to validate the underlying structure of Fowler’s model using empirical data, initially focusing on an assessment among Catholics.

Construct

The scale measures the psychological construct of faith development, defined here as the evolving structure of meaning-making, commitment, and worldview that individuals employ throughout their lives. This construct is fundamentally structural, concerning how one believes (the structure of faith), rather than the specific content of those beliefs (the object of faith).

The FDS operationalizes key aspects of Fowler’s stages, including the nature of authority, the understanding of divine reciprocity (or lack thereof), the relationship between doctrine and personal experience, and attitudes toward religious exclusivity versus pluralism. The forced-choice items are designed to differentiate between the characteristic orientations of Fowler’s middle stages, providing empirical evidence for the structural progression of faith.

Validity

Initial validation efforts for the scale focused heavily on establishing its alignment with Fowler’s developmental theory. Content validity was established by ensuring that the nine items accurately reflected the theoretical distinctions between the hypothesized stages, particularly those relevant to adult development.

Construct validity was assessed through empirical testing, particularly in the study by Barnes et al. (1989), which sought to confirm whether responses correlated with criteria expected of individuals at different developmental levels. Successful validation supports the claim that the FDS effectively distinguishes between different faith styles as conceptualized by the theoretical model.

Reliability

Assessment of Reliability for the Faith Development Scale generally involves measures of internal consistency and stability. Given the scale’s design as a concise measure of developmental stage, a high degree of internal consistency (often measured using Cronbach’s Alpha) is expected, indicating that the nine items cohere to measure a single, underlying developmental construct.

Researchers utilizing the scale typically report acceptable to good reliability coefficients, suggesting that the instrument consistently differentiates between the measured faith styles. Test-retest measures are also employed to confirm the temporal stability of the categorization over time, reflecting the relatively stable nature of developmental stages in adulthood.

Factor Analysis

The factor structure of the Faith Development Scale is crucial for confirming its theoretical basis. Factor analyses (both Exploratory and Confirmatory) were performed to determine if the nine items clustered into factors corresponding to the theoretically distinct faith stages proposed by Fowler.

Successful factor analyses demonstrate that the forced-choice preferences load onto dimensions that reflect movement along the developmental continuum, thereby providing empirical evidence for the multi-dimensional yet sequential nature of the faith development construct. The original study sought to confirm that the empirical structure of the scale aligned with the theoretical structure of the stage model.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychometric Scale, Self-Report, Forced-Choice Format.

Format: Nine items, each presenting two mutually exclusive statements (A and B). Respondents must choose the statement that best reflects their preference or belief.

Language Available: Primarily English (Original study context).

Population Group: Initially validated on religious populations, specifically Catholics.

Age Group: Adults and older adolescents (capable of the abstract reasoning required for later faith stages).

Population Details: The initial validation study focused on an empirical assessment among Catholic populations, suggesting suitability for individuals within structured religious traditions, although the scale has been used more broadly in subsequent research.

Test Methodology: Quantitative assessment based on preference selection across nine dichotomous items. Scoring typically involves assigning weights to choices that align with specific Fowler stages, allowing for the calculation of a dominant faith style score.

Keywords

Fowler Scale, Developmental Psychology, Religious Experience, Catholicism, Psychometrics, Reliability, Validity, Faith Development Scale.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1989.

Permissions and Fees: The scale items are published in academic literature, notably in the 1989 article and subsequent compilations like Measures of Religiosity (Hill & Hood, 1999). The instrument is generally available for academic research use, though specific commercial permissions or licensing fees should be verified with the original authors or copyright holders (Barnes, Doyle, & Johnson).

The original thesis document containing the instrument can be downloaded here: https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/5050/Thesis%20revisions.doc?sequence=1

Reference’s

• Barnes, M., Doyle, D., & Johnson, B. (1989). The Formulation of a Fowler Scale; An Empirical Assessment among Catholics. Review of Religious Research; 30(4): 412-420.
• Timpe, R. (1999). Faith development scale (Barnes, Doyle & Johnson, 1989). In P. Hill & R. Hood (Eds.), Measures of Religiosity. Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press.

Items of the Faith Development Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Please express a preference for one of the two statements on each of the nine items.

1. A. Those who do what God wants are given special rewards. B. God grants comfort and strength to those who are loyal and faithful.

2. A. God can do whatever God wants without any particular reason. B. It is important to try to make sense out of how God acts and why.

3. A. A good way to relate to God is to do what God wants, so that God will help you in return. B. It is best to think of God as utterly and freely giving.

4. A. Following Christ with loving devotion is more important than ha‎ving a thorough and correct understanding of true doctrine. B. It is important to reflect on one’s beliefs to make them reasonable and logically coherent.

5. A. True followers of Christ will often find themselves rejected by the world. B. Most people in the world are doing their best to live decent lives.

6. A. God’s revealed truth is meant for all people everywhere. B. No set of religious beliefs is the whole and final truth for everyone.

7. A. It is important to follow the leaders to whom God has entrusted his church. B. Religious leaders must respect the need for reasonableness, consistency and coherence in their interpretation of doctrines.

8. A. It is often hard to understand why people are disloyal to their family and religion. B. People have to make their own best choices about religion, even if it means following new ways.

9. A. The moral teachings of the church are objectively valid for all people, even though many do not realize this. B. Love of neighbor requires being open to new ideas and values