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Measuring Religiousness and Spirituality: Issues, Existing Measures, and the Implications for Education and Wellbeing

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International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Religion and Education ((IHRE,volume 3))

Abstract

This chapter consists of three major parts. The first part discusses general issues related to measurement in the psychology of religion. The second part reviews major measures of religiousness and spirituality by general religious and spiritual domain, concentrating on those areas and measures that have been (or might be) associated with educational processes and outcomes as well as general wellbeing. Only those measures judged to meet adequately acceptable standards for research purposes on the following criteria are discussed: theoretical basis, representative sampling and generalization, reliability, andvalidity. The final section talks about new developments in the measurement of religion and spirituality and alternatives to self-report or paper-and-pencil measures and offers guidance in choosing a measure for research in education and wellbeing.

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Biographical details

  • Peter C. Hill and Lauren E. Maltby, Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, California, USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, 90639, La Mirada, CA, USA

    Peter C. Hill

  2. Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, La Mirada, California, USA

    Lauren E. Maltby

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  1. Peter C. Hill
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  2. Lauren E. Maltby
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Correspondence to Peter C. Hill .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National School of Religious Education, Australian Catholic University, 1200 Mair St, Ballarat Campus, 3350, Ballarat, VIC, Australia

    Marian de Souza

  2. Warwick Inst. Education, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, Coventry, UK

    Leslie J. Francis

  3. School of Education Studies, Dublin City University, Dublin, Glasnevin, Ireland

    James O’Higgins-Norman

  4. School of Child & Youth Care, University of Victoria, V8W 2Y2, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Daniel Scott

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Hill, P.C., Maltby, L.E. (2009). Measuring Religiousness and Spirituality: Issues, Existing Measures, and the Implications for Education and Wellbeing. In: de Souza, M., Francis, L.J., O’Higgins-Norman, J., Scott, D. (eds) International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_3

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