STUDENT RELIGIOSITY QUESTIONNAIRE

Variable:

The Student Religiosity Question­naire (SRQ) was designed to measure gen­eral religiosity in student samples. The scale items are focused on beliefs and practices associated with the Jewish religious tradi­tion. Factor analysis of the scale items iden­tified two dimensions labeled by the author as (l) religious principles and (2) religious practices.

Description:

The original scale consisted of 20 items written by the author. The 20-item scale used in the first studies was modified to 18 items in later work. Responses to each question are made using a 5-point contin­uum, with I indicating minimal agreement and 5 showing maximal agreement.

Practical Considerations: The scale as written is useful only for research with sam­ples from the Jewish religious tradition. It is easy to administer, requiring only instruc­tions concerning the meaning of the contin­uum responses. Scale scores for the two fac­ tors are obtained by adding appropriate item scores.

Norms/Standardization:

The initial data set was derived from a sample of 110 white South African teacher trainees. Factor analysis of this data generated two-factors: Religious Principles and Religious Prac­tices. Following translation into Hebrew, data was gathered from a sample of 531 Is­ raeli11th-grade students attending national­ religious comprehensive schools. Factor analysis responses from these students gen­erated the same two-factor solution. A sam­ple of 221 Israeli 11th-grade students from a diverse selection of schools supported the two-factor scale. Ten of the 20 items loaded significantly on the Religious Principles factor and 7 items loaded significantly on the Religious Practices factor.

Reliability:

For the South African sample of 110 respondents, an alpha reliability of .89 was reported. For the Israeli student sample of 221, the alpha coefficient was .91. The co­efficients were .90 and .83, respectively, for the factors labeled Religious Principles and Religious Practices. A sample of 190 teacher trainees from Bar-Ilan University yielded a Cronbach ‘s alpha of .96 (for the 18-item scale version used in this later study).

Validity:

A panel of ten theologians judged each item. An item was included on the scale if at least 7 of the 10 judges indicated that the item had face validity for assessing general religiosity.

Student Religiosity Questionnaire

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

1	2	3	4	5	Sabbath observance
I	2	3	4	5	Inter-sex socializing
1	2	3	4	5	Dietary laws-observance at home
1	2	3	4	5	Dietary laws-observance out of home
1	2	3	4	5	Observance of days of mourning
1	2	3	4	5	Observance of fast days
1	2	3	4	5	Grace before meals on Sabbath
1	2	3	4	5	Sabbath termination prayers
1	2	3	4	5	Tabernacles festival observance
1	2	3	4	5	Giving of tithes

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

I	2	3	4	5	Biblical miracles
1	2	3	4	5	Rabbinical authority
I	2	3	4	5	Reward and punishment
1	2	3	4	5	Individual supervision by God
1	2	3	4	5	Resurrection of the dead

I	2	3	4	5	Creation ex nihilo
I	2	3	4	5	Oral law
I	2	3	4	5	Messianic era
I	2	3	4	5	Divine law
I	2	3	4	5	Prophecy

Location:

Subsequent Research: