Quantifying religiosity: a comparison of approaches based on categorical self-identification and multidimensional measures of religious activity

Conceptualizing and measuring religiosity, and non-religiosity, is a challenging endeavor because of their complex and contested nature (Hood et al., Citation2018; Murphy, Citation2017; Oman, Citation2013). However, quantifying religiosity is a prerequisite for exploring the relationships between religiosity and other variables, such as wellbeing, using statistical methods. Paloutzian (Citation2017) suggests there are two distinct approaches used to resolve this challenge. One is the categorical approach, which relies upon how individuals define themselves and understand their religiosity. The other is the multidimensional approach, which uses multiple items to assess different aspects of belief and behavior to measure religiosity (or aspects of it) on a scale. Both these approaches have advantages and limitations.