Using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approaches to Examine Commonly Used Religious and Spiritual Measures

Authors: Joelle Sacks, Monica Ramirez, Roshan Patel, Alyssa Miville

Field of Study: Social Sciences

Faculty Mentors: Richard Mattson

Easel: 72

Timeslot: Midday

Abstract: Religion and spirituality are important to many individuals, though the lack of agreement across definitions and measures make them somewhat complicated constructs to examine. This study analyzes several existing faith-based inventories. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed four major factors. Ultimately, our results suggest that there is a need for additional validation work on measures in this field to ensure more accurate measurement and to allow for better comparison of findings across studies.