Skip to main content

Measuring Religious Fundamentalism

Photo by Geoff W. Sutton, 2017

Researchers define religious fundamentalism in different ways. One recent model focuses on the way religious people view their sacred text. I have written about the Intratextual Fundamentalism model in a previous post (October 2013). In this post, I provide some data related to the 5-item version of the Intratextual Fundamentalism Scale (IFS), which I have found useful in research projects.


The revised version of the scale (IFS) has five items--each measuring a dimension of intratextuality (Williamson, Hood, Ahmad, Sadiq, & Hill, 2010). Here are the five dimensions (from my previous blog):

  1. Divine: The sacred text is a revelation from God (or of divine origin) to humans. Regardless of the involvement of people in the writing of the text, God (or a deity) is the author.
  2. Inerrant: The sacred text does not contain errors, inconsistencies, or contradictions. The text is objectively true.
  3. Privileged: The sacred text of the fundamentalist group is not just another sacred writing. It is the truth. Fundamentalists may show respect to people from other religions and their sacred writings but they do not consider other texts to be on the same level as their own text.
  4. Authoritative:  The sacred text is the final authority. If a conflict in belief arises, the sacred text wins.
  5. Unchanging: The sacred text is unchangeable and true for eternity. The truths are absolutes. The truths can be depended on to understand the world and as a guide for life.
You can find the scale items in the article by Williamson et al. (2010)--See reference below.
Reliability and Validity Data

In a recent study (Sutton, Kelly, Griffin, Worthington & Dinwiddie, 2016), coefficient alpha = .92). It was highly correlated with a measure of religious practices (r = .51).

Selected items (alpha = .83), but not the full five, were also correlated with Christian Beliefs Index (.56), Christian Social Values (.64), Christian Service Scale (.23), and Christian Practices (.36) in Sutton, Arnzen, and Kelly (2016).

More recently, Heather Kelly and others (2017) used the IFS in two studies of Christians' views of sin. In study one, alpha = .85. Christian Beliefs (.68) and Practices (.30) were significantly correlated with the IFS. Big Five traits also supported the validity: Conscientiousness (.23) and Openness (-.19). And in study two alpha = .93 following are the significant correlations with the IFS:  Beliefs .64; Practices .44; Openness -.19; Conscientiousness was not significant at -.10.






Although I have only used the IFS in Christian samples, it has been used with people of other religions.

Resource Link:  A – Z Test Index


References

Kelly, H.L., Sutton, G. W, Hicks, L., Godfrey, A. & Gillihan, C. (2018). Factors predicting the moral appraisal of sexual behavior in Christians. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 37, (2), 162-177.

Sutton, G. W., Arnzen, C., & Kelly, H. (2016). Christian counseling and psychotherapy: Components of clinician spirituality that predict type of Christian intervention. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 35, 204-214. Academia Link ResearchGate Link

Academia Link    ResearchGate Link

 Williamson, W. P., Hood, R. W. Jr., Ahmad, A., Sadiq, M., Hill, P. C. (2010). The Intratextual Fundamentalism Scale: Cross-cultural application, validity evidence, and relationship with religious orientation and the big 5 factor markers. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 13, 721-747. doi:10.1080/13674670802643047

Read more about Religious Fundamentalism and related concepts of Selective Fundamentalism and Fact Fundamentalism.



Read more about Applied Statistics available on AMAZON







Connections


My Page    www.suttong.com

My Books   AMAZON     GOOGLE PLAY STORE

FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton

TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton




Publications (many free downloads)
     
  Academia   Geoff W Sutton   (PhD)
     
  ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton   (PhD)


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire (PSQ)

  The Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire  ( PSQ )   Overview The Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire (PSQ) measures self-concept based on ratings of 18 items, which are grouped into four categories: Self-fulfilment, autonomy, honesty, and emotional self-concept. Subscales : The PSQ has four subscales 1. Self-fulfilment (6 items) 2. Autonomy (4 items) 3. Honesty (3 items) 4. Emotional self-concept (5 items)  ðŸ‘‰ [ Read more about Self-Concept and Self-Identity] The PSQ is a Likert-type scale with five response options ranging from totally disagree to totally agree. Reliability and Validity In the first study, coefficient alpha = .85 and in study two, alpha = .83. Data analysis supported a four-dimensional model (see the four categories above). Positive correlations with other self-concept measures were statistically significant. Other notes The authors estimated it took about 10 minutes to complete the PSQ. Their first study included people ages 12 to 36 ( n = 50...
Post a Comment
Read more

Student Self-Efficacy

  Assessment name:  STUDENT SELF-EFFICACY SCALE * Note. This post has been updated to provide an available measure of student self-efficacy. ———- Scale overview:  The  student self-efficacy scale i s a 10-item measure of self-efficacy. It was developed using data from university nursing students in the United States. Authors: Melodie Rowbotham and Gerdamarie Schmitz Response Type:  A four-choice rating scale as follows: 1 = not at all true 2 = hardly true 3 = moderately true 4 = exactly true   Self-efficacy is the perception that a person can act in a way to achieve a desired goal.  Scale items There are 10 items. Examples: I am confident in my ability to learn, even if I am having a bad day. If I try hard enough, I can obtain the academic goals I desire.   Psychometric properties The authors reported that their sample scores ranged from 25 to 40 with a scale mean of 34.23 ( SD  = 3.80. Internal consistency was high at alpha = .84. The a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ)

  Scale name: Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ) Scale overview: The Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ) is a 29-item self-report measure of both mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics anxiety. Author: Diana Kathleen May Response Type: Items are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale following a “no response” option: 1 = Never 2 = Seldom 3 = Sometimes 4 = Often 5 = usually Sample items 1. I feel confident enough to ask questions  in my mathematics class. 6. I worry that I will not be able to get a  good grade in my mathematics course.   Subscales and basic statistics for the MSEAQ       Self-Efficacy M = 44.11, SD = 10.78, alpha = .93       Anxiety M = 46.47, SD = 12.61, alpha = .93       Total Scale M = 90.58, SD = 22.78, alpha = .96 Reliability: See the Cronbach’s alpha levels reported above. Validity: There were significant ...
Post a Comment
Read more