Religiosity Questionnaire [RQ]

Description

The Religiosity Questionnaire [RQ], developed by Brown (1962), is a self-report instrument designed to assess different dimensions of religious belief and religious orientation. The questionnaire includes domains such as institutional religion, individual religious orientation, beliefs about Christ and God, orthodox Christian beliefs, and broader religious beliefs.

Purpose

The RQ aims to examine the structure and strength of religious beliefs, including:

  • Institutionalization, reflecting the perceived importance of organized religion and the Church.
  • Individualism, emphasizing personal religious experience and private faith.
  • Beliefs about Christ and God.
  • Orthodox Christian beliefs.
  • General religious beliefs concerning spirituality, life after death, angels, evil, and other religious concepts.

Scoring

Participants indicate how certain they are that each statement is true or false using a seven-category response format, ranging from complete certainty that a statement is true to complete certainty that it is false. Some negatively phrased items are reverse-scored.

Applications

The RQ can be used in psychological and social research to investigate religious beliefs, certainty of belief, religious orientation, and individual differences in religiosity.

References

Thouless, R. H. (1935). The tendency to certainty in religious belief. British Journal of Psychology, 26, 16–31.

Brown, L. B. (1962). A study of religious belief. British Journal of Psychology, 53, 259–272.

Brown, L. B. (1966). The structure of religious belief. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 5(2), 259–272.

Brown, L. B. (1987). The Psychology of Religious Belief. Academic Press..