PSYC 515 M1 RESEARCH SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS 1

RESEARCH PROJECT SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS

OVERVIEW
Religiosity and spirituality can influence every facet of a person’s life. Studies show its
relationship with job satisfaction, anxiety, stress, political ideology, and overall happiness, to
name a few (note I’m not citing articles because you will need to find relevant articles for
whichever of these you choose – however, in a research paper one could not make these
assertions without appropriate citations). Religiosity and spirituality can also be examined across
the lifespan or in relation to aspects from one’s childhood. However, how people define and
examine religiosity and spirituality varies considerably. To scaffold the expectations of this
assignment, you will be designing a study using variables from a pre-approved list.

INSTRUCTIONS
This document is a supplement for the Research Design assignment. Read this entire document
so you can see the scope of your options for variables and how they are operationally defined.
Then, select your variables from the following:
 Select at least one demographic variable from the “Demographic Variables” section
below. Remember - a demographic variable is used to describe your sample - it is NOT
part of your research question or your analysis. A demographic variable helps provide the
scope of external validity of your research (example – if only people between the ages of
18 – 25 complete your survey, then it lets people know your conclusions are restricted to
this age group). Again, it is NOT included in your statistical analysis or hypothesis. It is
merely used to describe your sample. You should not discuss your demographic variable
in your introduction as a variable of interest.
 Select TWO variables of interest as a basis for a hypothesis – one from each section
(Variable of Interest #1 and Variable of Interest #2). Please note they are only numbered
to clarify what is considered a variable within each section– do not use the numbers in
your research paper as that is not scientific or meaningful. *Some of the variables have a
citation based on the development of the questions used to assess it – you’d need to cite
the provided article if you select a variable with that information provided (and it does
not count towards the number of articles you must discuss). All articles cited in this
document are available within the Jerry Falwell Library.

Once you’ve selected your variables, complete your Research Design Form. You will have to
create your Survey using the required disclosure and relevant questions based on the variables
you selected. You cannot add/delete/modify information from the disclosure or variables as
shown in this document. They must be used in their entirety as provided here. Here is the
required disclosure that must be included at the top of your survey:

SURVEY
Disclosure: I am asking you to complete this survey as part of the requirements for my statistics
project in a graduate level psychology course. Your answers will remain completely anonymous.
No personal information about you will be linked to this survey. Please do not put your name or
any other identifying information on the survey. The results of this survey will be used only for
PSYC 515 M1 RESEARCH SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS 2

educational purposes and will not be published or released to the public. You must be 15 years
old or older in order to complete this survey.
Directions: <create appropriate directions here - these may vary but should include to only give
one response per question – note you may need different directions for each subsection>

Demographic questions Select a minimum of one demographic question.

1. Biological Sex:
a. Answer options (select one): Male, Female
2. Gender:
a. Answer options (select one): Male, Female, Other
3. Age in years:
a. (Have it blank for participants to enter a number)
4. Racial/ Ethnic Category:
a. Answer Options (select all that apply): American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or
African American; Hispanic or Latino; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; White;
Other
b. Additional information for students in PSYC 515: the answer options are based on the
OMB Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and
Ethnicity, published by NIH on April 8, 2015
5. Marital status (including living common law):
a. Answer options (select one): Now married; Widowed; Divorced; Separated; Never
married

Variable of Interest #1 Select ONE of the following scales to measure your first variable of interest (e.g.,
if you select the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale your variable is Intrinsic Spirituality. The participant will
answer 6 questions from this scale, but you will average their responses and use a single score in your
statistical analysis section).

1. Intrinsic Spirituality Scale measures the degree to which spirituality is a motivating factor in one’s life

Hodge, D.R. (2003). The Intrinsic Spirituality Scale: A new six-item instrument for assessing the salience
of spirituality as a motivational construct. Journal of Social Service Research 30 (1), 41 – 61.
https://doi.org/10.1300/J079v30n01_03

 See page 48 in the article for the exact questions and answer options
 Answers to 6 items (ratio) – average the scores so total range is 0 – 10 (use this number for your
statistical analysis). To help with your interpretation - 0 represents an individual for whom
spirituality is not operative in their life as a motivating factor; 10 indicates a person who is
motivated by their spirituality to the highest degree possible.
PSYC 515 M1 RESEARCH SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS 3

2. Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) measures experiences of God’s love, presence, guidance, and
closeness during daily life

Underwood, L. G. (2011). The daily spiritual experience scale: Overview and results. Religions, 2(1), 29-
50. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel2010029

* Use the SHORTENED version of the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (6 questions) despite the
limitations discussed in this article.
- See Table 1 in the article for the Introduction, questions, and answer options used in the
BMMRS 6 item scale (note the asterisk at the bottom of the table that indicates which questions
were selected and/or combined for the shortened version).
o Answer options should be quantified by ranging from 1 (“Many times a day”) to 6
(“Never or almost never”)
- Answers to these 6 items should be averaged, for individual final averages ranging from 1 – 6
(use two decimal places) where more frequent daily spiritual experience is represented by lower
mean scores.
o As discussed in the referenced article, there is more than one way to score it – you
should follow the directions listed here for consistency.

3. Negative subscale of the Brief Religious Coping Scale (RCOPE) this subscale reflects underlying
spiritual tensions and struggles within oneself, with others, and with the divine

Pargament, K., Feuille, M, & Burdzy, D. (2011). The brief RCOPE: Current psychometric status of a short
measure of religious coping. Religions, 2(1), 51-76. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel2010051

* Use the seven questions in the “Negative Religious Coping Subscale Items” in Table 2 of the article.
These questions should have responses ranging from 1 ‘not at all’ to 4 ‘a great deal’.
 Analysis: Sum the scores for a range of 7 – 28, with higher values reflecting a larger degree of
negative religious coping

Variable of Interest #2 Select ONE of the following constructs to measure a second variable of interest
(e.g., if you select depressive symptoms, you will include the 20 questions from the CES-D and then
combine them to a single score ranging from 0 – 60 for your statistical analysis). Note questions #9-12
do not have citations as they are well-defined and are not psychological constructs.

1. Depression from the Center for Epidemiological Studies – Depression (CES-D) scale: a 20-item
measure that asks a participant to rate how often over the past week they experienced symptoms
associated with depression, such as restless sleep, poor appetite, and feeling lonely.
PSYC 515 M1 RESEARCH SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS 4

Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general
population. Applied Psychological Measurements, 1(3), 385-401.
https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306

Use the 20 questions as shown in Table 1 but have response options range from 0 to 3 for each item (0 =
Rarely or None of the Time, 1 = Some or Little of the Time, 2 = Moderately or Much of the time, 3 = Most
or Almost All the Time.

Analysis: Reverse score #4, 8, 12, and 16. Then, you add up all scores. Scores range from 0 to 60, with
high scores indicating greater depressive symptoms.

2. Shyness This 9 question self-report survey assesses a person’s tension, discomfort, and inhibition that
may occur in the presence of others (“shyness”).

Cheek, J.M. & Buss, A.H. (1981). Shyness and sociability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41
(2), 330 – 339. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.41.2.330

Use the 9 questions listed in Table 1 for the “Shyness” scale. Have participants rate agreement with the
items on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3 (neutral), 4 (agree),
and 5 (strongly agree).

Analysis: Reverse score question #2 (“I don’t find it hard to talk to strangers”). Then add the values from
the nine questions to obtain a single score ranging from 9 – 45, which higher scores represent higher
levels of shyness.

3. Loneliness use the RULS-6 scale.

Wongpakaran, N., Wongpakaran, T., Pinyopornpanish, M., Simcharoen, S., Suradom, C, Varnado, P.,
Kuntawong, P. (2020). Development and validation of a 6-teim Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale
(RULS-6) using Rasch analysis. British Journal of Health Psychology, 25(2), 233-256.
https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12404

See the end of the article in the Appendix – Table A1 contains the 6 questions for the Revised UCLA
Loneliness Scale (RULS-6). Each question should use a four-point Likert scale, that is, 1 (often), 2
(sometime), 3 (rarely), and 4 (never).

Analysis: Degree of loneliness is evaluated by averaging scores across items. Higher scores indicate
greater loneliness.

4. Quiet Ego this measure reflects the idea that quiet ego is a higher order construct and captures four
characteristics: detached awareness, inclusive identity, perspective-taking, and growth.
PSYC 515 M1 RESEARCH SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS 5

Wayment, H. A., Bauer, J. J., & Sylaska, K. (2015). The Quiet Ego Scale: Measuring the
compassionate self-identity. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(4), 999-1033.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9546-z

The Quiet Ego Scale (QES) is a 14-item scale used to assess quiet ego. Items are all rated on a 5-point
scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). See Table 7 located in the Appendix of the article for the
14 questions, with those with an asterisk being reverse coded before scoring.

Analysis: Reverse code questions with an asterisk in the original article. Then, sum answers to obtain a
single score per participant. Higher scores on this measure indicate a stronger quiet ego.

5. Perceived stress. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a 10-item measure that is widely used to assess
subjectively experienced stress and known predictor of health and health-related outcomes. Items were
rated on a 5-point scale (1 = never; 5 = very often).

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A Global Measure of Perceived Stress. Journal of
Health and Social Behavior,  24(4), 385-396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404

Analysis: The 14 items of the PSS are presented in Appendix A. PSS scores are obtained by reversing the
scores on the seven positive items, e.g., 0=4, 1=3, 2=2, etc., and then summing across all 14 items. Items
4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 13 are the positively stated items. Higher scores indicated greater perceived stress.

6. Positive or Negative Affect (PANAS). Note you must only select ONE subscale (positive OR negative)
for the purposes of this assignment. The words associated with each scale are identified in the
“Development of the PANAS Scales” subsection on p. 1064 of the article. See the Appendix for the
complete PANAS. You would also choose the most appropriate “time instructions” in the Appendix based
on the nature of your study.

Watson, D., Clark, L.A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive
and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6),
1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063

Analysis: Add the scores on the 10 items associated with subscale you selected (Positive OR Negative).
Scores range from 10 – 50. Positive Affect subscale interpretation: higher scores representing higher
levels of positive affect. Negative Affect Subscale interpretation: lower scores represent lower levels of
negative affect.

7. Grit. Using the 12-item Grit Scale. Participants endorsed items describing their tendency to maintain
effort (perseverance) (eg, “Setbacks don’t discourage me”) and interest consistency (eg, “I have been
obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest,” reverse scored).

Duckworth, A.L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M.D., & Kelly, D. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for
long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087
PSYC 515 M1 RESEARCH SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS 6

See Table 1 for the 12 questions. Have participants rate each using a 5-point scale (1 = not at all like me;
5 = very much like me).

Analysis: Reverse score all six questions associated with “Consistency of Interests” in Table 1 as
indicated. Average those scores so that the maximum score is 5 (extremely gritty) and the lowest score
is 1 (not at all gritty).

8. General job satisfaction using the Generic Job Satisfaction Scale:

Macdonald, S. & MacIntyre, P. (2008). The Generic Job Satisfaction Scale: scale development and its
correlates. Employee Assistance Quarterly 13 (2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1300/J022v13n02_01

10 question survey – each on a 5 point Likert scale

Strongly disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5
I receive recognition for a job well done.
I feel close to the people at work.
I feel good about working at this company.
I feel secure about my job.
I believe management is concerned about me.
On the whole, I believe work is good for my physical health.
My wages are good.
All my talents and skills are used at work.
I get along with my supervisors.
I feel good about my job.

Analysis: Add scores. Use the sum for analysis purposes. Interpretation: 42-50 very high; 39-41 high; 32-
38 average; 27-31 low; 10-26 very low. This scale is most accurate for employees between the ages of 25
and 60.

9. Political Party Affiliation

Which of the following most closely represents your political party affiliation?
Republican Democrat Libertarian Other

10. Church attendance

On average, how many times do you attend religious services each month (assuming there are no
holidays):

11. Reading scripture

How many minutes on average do you spend reading scripture each week?
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12. Time praying

How much time do you spend praying each day (in minutes)?