ATTITUDE TOWARD CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES SCALE

Abstract

The Attitude toward Church and Religious Practices Scale is a psychometric instrument designed to quantify an individual’s preference regarding the sociological concepts of church-sect typology. The scale consists of 24 items utilizing a 5-point Likert response format, ranging from 1 (“strongly agree”) to 5 (“strongly disagree”). Total scores range from 24 to 120. Lower scores indicate a strong preference for a sect religiosity orientation, characterized by non-conformity and rigid boundaries, while higher scores reflect a preference for a church religiosity orientation, which is integrated into the prevailing social order.

Keywords

Church-sect typology, religiosity, religious attitudes, church orientation, sect orientation, sociological scale, Protestant study, psychometrics.

Authors

Russell R. Dynes.

Purpose

The primary objective of the Attitude toward Church and Religious Practices Scale is to provide an empirical measure for the theoretical concepts of “church” and “sect” within sociological and psychological studies of religion. By quantifying these orientations, researchers can incorporate them into rigorous empirical frameworks, moving beyond purely descriptive analysis of religious organizations.

The scale operationalizes the “church” as a religious organization that is securely integrated into the dominant social order, adopting and reinforcing prevailing cultural concepts. Conversely, the “sect” orientation is operationalized as a religious group that actively rejects or “disdains cultural conformity,” thereby establishing a separate subculture defined by strict belief systems and practice boundaries.

Construct

The scale measures an individual’s attitudinal preference along a continuum representing the classic church-sect typology, a foundational concept in the sociology of religion. This typology distinguishes between two ideal types of religious groups based on their relationship to the secular world.

The construct is specifically defined by the respondent’s disposition toward practices and beliefs associated with either institutionalized, socially integrated religion (Church orientation) or separatist, high-demand, and culturally non-conforming religion (Sect orientation). The resulting score reflects the degree to which an individual internalizes the values, practices, and organizational structures characteristic of one type over the other.

Validity

Evidence for the scale’s validity is rooted in its theoretical foundation, which posits a measurable difference in attitudes between members of groups classified sociologically as a “church” versus those classified as a “sect.”

Criterion Validity: Empirical validation was achieved by comparing the mean scores of known groups. A sample of church members (specifically Episcopalian and Presbyterian denominations), who represent the institutionalized, integrated church type, achieved a mean score of 76.1. In contrast, members of sect groups (including Holiness, Pentecostal, Church of God, Nazarene, and Baptist denominations) achieved a significantly lower mean score of 58.1. This statistically significant difference strongly supports the scale’s ability to discriminate between the two defined groups.

Content Validity: Further support for the scale’s content representation was established through expert review. Ten sociologists, recruited from various denominations, reviewed the items and demonstrated a high level of consensus, achieving 98% agreement in classifying the scale items as reflecting either a church or sect orientation.

Reliability

The reliability of the scale was assessed using the split-half method across two distinct samples.

For the initial pretest sample (N = 55), the calculated split-half reliability coefficient was 0.86. When corrected using the Spearman-Brown formula, this coefficient rose to 0.92, indicating very strong internal consistency in the preliminary version of the instrument.

In the final study sample, which comprised 100 individuals randomly selected from 360 Columbus residents, the split-half reliability coefficient was 0.70. After correction using the Spearman-Brown formula, the reliability estimate improved to 0.82. This value is generally considered acceptable for research purposes in social sciences, confirming the stable measurement of the underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

Specific details regarding formal exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis (EFA/CFA) are not provided in the primary source material. However, the development process included an internal consistency analysis conducted during the standardization phase, which served to refine the item pool.

This initial screening process led to the rejection of 11 items from the original pool of 35 that lacked sufficient discriminatory power. The final 24-item scale was constructed with 4 items designed to reflect church orientation and 20 items designed to reflect sect orientation, suggesting a potentially strong, unidimensional focus on the sect pole of the religious continuum, although formal factor structure remains undocumented.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychometric Attitude Scale

Format: 5-point Likert Scale (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree)

Language Available: English (Original administration)

Population Group: General population (Specifically tested on Protestant church members and Columbus residents)

Age Group: Adults (Implied, based on study samples of church members and residents)

Population Details: Initial pretest sample (N=55) from a Protestant church in Columbus, Ohio. Final study sample included 360 residents of Columbus, Ohio, with a subsample of 100 used for reliability testing.

Test Methodology: Self-report questionnaire. Scoring involves summing responses to the 24 items, with items 2, 6, 7, and 10 being reverse-scored. Total scores range from 24 (Sect preference) to 120 (Church preference).

Keywords

Dynes Scale, religious sociology, attitude measurement, Protestant denominations, psychometrics, scale development, church-sect typology.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not available in source material (Russell R. Dynes)

Affiliation Email addresses: Not available in source material

Correspondence Address: Correspondence related to the original publication: American Sociological Review (1955).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1955

Permissions and Fee: Information on current permissions and fees is not provided in the original source. Researchers should contact the journal or the author’s estate for current usage rights, though academic scales of this vintage are often treated as public domain for non-commercial research use.

Reference’s

• Dynes, R. R. (1955). Church-sect typology and socio-economic status. American Sociological Review, 20, 555-560.

• Garrison, K. C. (1962). The relationship of certain variables to church-sect typology among college students. Journal of Social Psychology, 56, 29-32. (Subsequent Research)

Items of the ATTITUDE TOWARD CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES SCALE

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

Directions: Put a 1 before those statements with which you strongly agree, a 2 before those statements with which you mildly agree, a 3 before those statements toward which you are neu­tral, a 4 before those with which you mildly disagree, and a 5 before those with which you strongly disagree.

1. I think a minister should preach without expecting to get paid for it.
2. *I think it is more important to live a good life now than to be bothered about life after death.
3. I think a person who is not willing to follow all the rules of the church should not be al­ lowed to belong.
4. Testifying about one’s religious experience should be a part of a regular church service.
5. I feel that a congregation should encourage the minister during his sermon by saying amen.
6. *I think that we should emphasize education in religion and not conversion.
7. *I think that there is practically no difference between what the different Protestant churches believe.
8. I think a person should make a testimony about his religion before he joins a church.
9. In church, I would rather sing the hymns myself than hear the choir sing.
10. *I think being a success in one’s job is one mark of a good Christian.
11. A minister who is “called” is better than one who is “trained.”
12. I like the “old-time” religion.
13. I think churches should have more revivals.
14. I think it would be wrong for a church member to have a job as a bartender.
15. I think a person should feel his religion before he joins a church.
16. I like to sing the old gospel songs rather than the new hymns.
17. I don’t believe churches do enough about saving souls.
18. Heaven and Hell are very real to me.
19. All the miracles in the Bible are true.
20. Children should not become members of the church until they are old enough to under- stand it.
21. I think it is more important to go to church than to be active in politics.
22. I wish ministers would preach more on the Bible and less on politics.
23. I think it is more serious to break God’s law than to break man’s law.
24. I think every family should have family prayers or say grace before meals.

* indicates reversed scoring