STUDENT RELIGIOSITY QUESTIONNAIRE

Abstract

The Student Religiosity Questionnaire (SRQ) is a psychological instrument designed to quantify general religiosity specifically within student populations. The original scale comprised 20 items, though later research utilized a modified 18-item version. Responses are collected using a 5-point continuum, where 1 signifies minimal agreement or observance and 5 represents maximal agreement or observance.

The SRQ is structured around two empirically derived dimensions: Religious Principles and Religious Practices. Due to its item content focusing heavily on observance and belief, the scale is primarily suitable for research involving samples rooted in the Jewish religious tradition.

Keywords

Religiosity, Jewish religious tradition, Psychological scale, Religious practices, Religious principles, Student sample, Psychometrics, Questionnaire

Authors

Y. Katz, L. Francis, M. Schmida

Purpose

The fundamental purpose of the Student Religiosity Questionnaire (SRQ) is to provide a standardized, quantifiable measure of an individual’s general religiosity. It was specifically developed for use with student samples to facilitate academic research into the psychological and social correlates of religious belief and behavior.

A crucial practical consideration for researchers is that the scale’s items are deeply rooted in the beliefs and practices associated with the Jewish religious tradition. Therefore, its applicability is highly restricted to populations adhering to or knowledgeable about this specific faith context.

Construct

The SRQ operationalizes the construct of religiosity as a two-dimensional structure. Through empirical investigation, the author identified two distinct, yet related, factors that capture the breadth of religious engagement among the target population.

These two dimensions, which allow for separate scoring and analysis, are labeled as (1) Religious Principles, which measure adherence to core theological beliefs, and (2) Religious Practices, which quantify the level of observance of ritual and behavioral laws.

Validity

The initial validation of the SRQ relied on expert judgment to establish face validity. A panel consisting of ten theologians was tasked with reviewing each item on the scale to determine its appropriateness for assessing general religiosity.

An item was retained for inclusion in the final scale only if at least seven out of the ten expert judges confirmed that the item possessed sufficient face validity for its intended purpose. Subsequent research (Katz & Schmida, 1992) further explored the scale’s structural validity through factor analysis.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the SRQ has been consistently reported as high across diverse samples. For the initial South African sample of 110 respondents, the reported alpha reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) for the overall scale was .89.

In subsequent studies involving Israeli student populations (N=221), the overall alpha coefficient was even higher at .91. When examining the subscales, the coefficients were reported as .90 for Religious Principles and .83 for Religious Practices. A study involving 190 teacher trainees from Bar-Ilan University using the 18-item version demonstrated excellent internal consistency, yielding a Cronbach’s alpha of .96.

Factor Analysis

The psychometric properties of the SRQ were investigated using factor analysis, which consistently supported a two-dimensional model of religiosity. The initial analysis, conducted on data from 110 white South African teacher trainees, successfully identified the two hypothesized factors: Religious Principles and Religious Practices.

This two-factor solution was replicated in subsequent analyses using Hebrew translations of the scale administered to 531 Israeli 11th-grade students attending national-religious schools. Further validation using a diverse sample of 221 Israeli 11th-grade students also confirmed the structural integrity of the two factors. Specifically, ten of the original 20 items loaded significantly onto the Religious Principles factor, while seven items loaded significantly onto the Religious Practices factor.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire / Psychometric scale

Format: 18 or 20 items using a 5-point Likert-type continuum (1=Minimal agreement/observance; 5=Maximal agreement/observance).

Language Available: English, Hebrew

Population Group: Students and teacher trainees adhering to the Jewish religious tradition.

Age Group: Adolescent students (11th grade) and young adults (teacher trainees).

Population Details: Initial standardization samples included white South African teacher trainees (N=110) and Israeli 11th-grade students (N=531 and N=221).

Test Methodology: Summing appropriate item scores to obtain factor scores for Religious Principles and Religious Practices.

Keywords

Psychological measurement, Scale development, Student samples, Israel, South Africa, Religious belief, Observance, Judaism, Psychometrics, Cronbach’s alpha

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source material.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence for Y. Katz was likely affiliated with institutions in South Africa or Israel at the time of publication.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: Initial development and publication reported in 1988.

Permissions: Information regarding current commercial permissions or fees is not available in the source data. Researchers should contact the primary author, Y. Katz, or the publishing journal for use permissions.

Fee: Not specified.

Reference’s

1. Katz, Y. (1988). The relationship between intelligence and attitudes in a bilingual society: The case of white South Africa. The Journal of Social Psychology, 128, 65-74.

2. Francis, L. & Katz, Y. (1992). The relationship between personality and religiosity in an Israeli sample. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 31, 153-12.

3. Katz, Y., & Schmida, M. (1992). Validation of the student religiosity questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52, 353-356.

Items of the STUDENT RELIGIOSITY QUESTIONNAIRE

STUDENT RELIGIOSITY QUESTIONNAIRE

Directions: For the following activities, rate your degree of observance from 1 (minimal observance) to 5 (maximal observance).

Directions: For the following religious principles, rate your degree of agreement from 1 (minimal agreement) to 5 (maximal agreement).