Description

The “Attitude Toward the Church Scale” (ATCS) is a psychometric tool designed to measure individuals’ attitudes toward the church as an institution. The scale assesses both positive and negative views, beliefs, and emotions people have regarding the church, its functions, and its role in society.

Objective

The main objectives of the ATCS are:
Assessment of Attitudes: To record both positive and negative attitudes individuals hold toward the church.
Understanding Influencing Factors: To understand the factors shaping individuals’ attitudes toward the church, such as personal religious experiences, social influences, and cultural traditions.
Examination of Relationships: To explore how attitudes toward the church relate to other psychological, social, or religious variables.
Promotion of Participation: To provide data that can help develop strategies promoting active participation in the church and social cohesion.

Analysis

The analysis of data collected through the ATCS scale includes the following steps:
Data Collection: Participants complete the ATCS questionnaire, which contains questions assessing their attitudes toward the church using Likert scales.
Quantitative Evaluation: Responses are scored and analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and other statistical methods to identify dominant trends and relationships.
Interpretation of Results: The results are interpreted to identify dominant trends and relationships between attitudes toward the church and other psychological and social
factors.
Group Comparison: Differences in attitudes toward the church are examined across different demographic, cultural, and religious groups.

Standardization

The standardization of the ATCS includes:
Ensuring Reliability: Using reliability indicators such as Cronbach’s alpha to assess the internal consistency of responses.
Ensuring Validity: Confirming the validity of the tool through confirmatory factor analysis and other evaluation methods.
Test-Retest: Conducting retesting with different groups of participants to verify the reliability and validity of the scale across various contexts.

Bibliography

Glock, C. Y., & Stark, R. (1965). Religion and Society in Tension. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967). “Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5(4), 432-443.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1984). “Measurement: The Boon and Bane of Investigating Religion.” American Psychologist, 39(3), 228-236.
Hill, P. C., & Hood, R. W. (1999). Measures of Religiosity. Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.
Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of Religion and Health. Oxford University Press.