MEASURES OF RELIGIOSITY: WHAT ARE THE MEASURES OF RELIGIOUSITY?

MEASURES OF RELIGIOSITY

In sociology, Religiosity is a term used to describe the level of religious participation and internalization of belief systems within a particular society. Studies of religiosity are often undertaken to measure several things, including frequency of prayer, biblical literalism, and religious salience. The following are the measures of religiosity:

1. Contributors:

This measures how frequently respondents attend places of worship. It is debatable how much measurement error is present in self-reported attendance, as people tend to over-estimate their participation.

2. Frequency of Prayer:

This measures how often a respondent prays.

3. Frequency of Reading Sacred Texts:

This measures how often someone reads sacred texts such as the Bible, Koran, sutras etc.

4. Biblical Literalism:

These questions measure how literally respondents read the Bible or other sacred scriptures. It is debatable whether this measure taps more of a belief or an identity. Although certainly some of both, the latter seems to be more important, as “literalists” from different interpretive communities may disagree on which parts of the Bible are to be taken literally. What is clear is that this question taps a dimension of religion important for understanding other aspects of religiosity, political attitudes, and views about moral authority more generally. Accordingly this measure has become a standard control, along with service attendance and religious tradition. It is also used as an indicator of fundamentalism. Although some believers claim that belief in Biblical “inerrancy” is different, this too is typically taken to mean “literalism.” Measures typically include three or four response options. Researchers sometimes employ these as ordinal categories, while others utilize them as nominal categories.

5. Financial Contributions:

These variables measure how much a respondent gives to his or her religious congregation or organization. View related items in the Measurement Wizard:

6. Giving/Tithing

Religious Salience: This measures how religious a respondent considers him/herself to be. View related items in the Measurement Wizard