Open AccessA Scripture-Specific Religious Orientation Scale: Development and Validation
Author(s) -
Ebrahim Khodadady
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
psychology and mental health care: open access
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2637-8892
DOI - 10.31579/2637-8892/050
Subject(s) - religious orientation , schema (genetic algorithms) , scale (ratio) , psychology , faith , factoring , social psychology , computer science , philosophy , epistemology , information retrieval , geography , cartography , finance , economics
Objectives: to develop a novel religious orientation scale based on the Quran and validate it with pre-university students of secondary education Method: All the Quranic ayat which addressed its believers directly regarding their religious orientation were scrutinized in terms of pre-university students’ characteristics, resulting in the selection of 57 upon which a 60-item Quranic Orientation Scale (QOS) was developed. The scale was administered to 1123 students and their responses were subjected to Principal Axis Factoring and Promax with Kaiser Normalization (PKN). Results: Out of 60 items comprising the QOS, 48 loaded acceptably and exclusively on seven rotated factors called believing in holy scriptures,, remembering and seeking Allah, fulfilling Quranic obligations, following Allah confidently, following Quranic instructions, not befriending disbelievers, and informed Quranic struggle. Both the scale and its underlying factors had internal consistency and correlated significantly with each other. Conclusion: The Quran teaches the domain of religious orientation directly to its readers as a hierarchically and culturally independent schema consisting of specific species and genera. Pre-university student, however, not only reduce the domain as regards the number of its constituting species and genera but also develop their own religious families. Going through this process consciously they render their religious orientation a hierarchically and culturally organized schema.