Marie Cornwall’s article The Determinants of Religious Behavior: A Theoretical Model and Empirical Test mainly intended to evaluate five different categories of aspects that influence religious behavior among individuals. The five factors included group involvement, religious commitment, belief-orthodoxy, sociodemographic characteristics, and religious socialization. Additionally, Cornwall (1989) also suggests other methods of measuring the diverse factors by presenting a theoretical model. In order to get the best results, Cornwall ignored standard measures of group involvement and applied measures based on in-group, out-group and marginal personal relationships in the community of Latter Day Saints from the United States ( Cornwall, 1989). The measurement scheme used creates a cloud of doubt on the validity of the data due to a number of inconsistencies that might affect group data. By using measurement schemes that were based on data from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) who live the United States, Cornwall ignored the uniqueness of the population. Notably, the unique feature of the population used might not prove to show the factors affecting other believers’ religious behavior. Another criticism on the measurement scheme used by Cornwall (1989) challenges empirical evidence that suggests every set of factors influenced religious behavior of individuals despite the level of influence being higher in some. It is also inaccurate to present the measurements generally since there is no empirical research examining the factors together. The measurement scheme was also likely to give inaccurate results since the overall feedback rate was as low as 64 percent. Instead of using a questionnaire with questions covering up to 32 pages, Cornwall could have used interviews for the members who were present at the church during the data collection process. The article has used in-group, out-group, as well as marginal ties that seem inadequate for the number of samples involved in the study.
References
Cornwall, M. (1989). The determinants of religious behavior: A theoretical model and empirical test. Social forces , 68 (2), 572-592.
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