Relative Religiosity: Evaluating Survey Measures of Religious Behavior in Context

• In Event: Sociology of Religion Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4. Religiosity: Its Influence and Measurement

Abstract

How do perceptions of religiosity shift when greater attention is paid to religious context? Does variation in the frequency of religious behaviors across different religious traditions illuminate inherent features of those traditions, or does such variation expose areas where measures might be improved? Are questions about religious behavior really measuring the same constructs across religions? In the interest of longitudinal research, survey measures of religious behavior have remained largely static. However, globalization and the resulting increase in religiously diverse or divided societies may create an environment where existing measures could be enhanced by the addition of more contextually informed measures. Existing measures of religious intensity may place equal focus on behaviors that are not equally emphasized by different faiths (e.g., meditation and attendance at religious services). Using data from several nationwide and cross-national surveys, including the Pew Research Center’s Spring 2024 Survey, the 2024 General Social Survey, and Wave 7 of the World Values Survey, I compare religious behavior data across faiths according to self-rated religiosity, with a particular focus on Muslim populations. I employ factor analysis to test whether religiosity questions measure the same constructs for members different religious groups. I introduce the concept of “relative religiosity,” that is, how religious behavior compares to members of the same group, as an alternative measure for cross-group comparisons.

Author

• Kallan Larsen, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill