Measuring Religion as Quest: 2) Reliability Concerns

In this paper, concerns are addressed regarding the reliability of the Quest scale introduced by Batson (1976) and Batson and Ventis (1982). After briefly reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that, although the Batson and Ventis (1982) six-item Quest scale seems to have acceptable test-retest reliability, it has poor internal consistency. To remedy this problem, a new 12-item version of the Quest scale is herein proposed. This 12-item version has satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas in the .75 to .82 range) and, equally important, is highly correlated with the original six-item Quest scale (correlations in the .85 to .90 range). We recommend that both the new 12-item scale and the six-item version be used in future substantive research that seeks to assess the way in which a quest dimension of religion facilitates or inhibits personal adjustment and positive social behavior.