Measuring the spiritual and behavioral dimensions of religiosity in a Muslim sample

Abstract

This study examines the dimensions of religiosity based on a sample of undergraduate students in a large state university in Kuwait. It aims to develop and test a multi-dimensional scale to measure religiosity in a Muslim sample. More specifically, the current research tests the properties of a newly developed religiosity scale designed for a Muslim sample consisting of two sub-scales, a spiritual and a behavioral one. The self-report data support the two dimensions of religiosity but, while the two dimensions are related, their statistical distributions were different indicating a possible "desirability bias" effect. Future studies should guard against this possibility by using complex survey techniques such as randomized responses and unmatched count.