METHODOLOGICAL PARTICULARITIES IN CURRENT RESEARCH ON RELIGIOSITY

: The purpose of this article is to capture how religiosity is sociologically researched. On the basis of a bibliographical research, the particularities of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodological approaches to this topic are highlighted. Each method used enhances a different dimension of religiosity. In studying the religious phenomenon, it is found that there are certain limitations that the researcher must take into account. Its working data also include spiritual values, which legitimise how research participants relate to the phenomenon. In turn, the researcher has his own relationship to religiosity.


Introduction
The measurement of religiosity is an evolving topic and differs depending on the perspective.According to the Dictionary of Sociology (Zamfir & Vlăsceanu, 1993), religion is defined as a type of human behaviour, determined by beliefs and rituals related to supernatural forces and powers.Based on this definition, the importance of measuring people's religiosity, defined as a deeply religious feeling, piety becomes relevant (DEX, 1998).Religion through its functions (cognitive, actional, anxiety reduction, social) acquires a social significance (Zamfir & Vlăsceanu, 1993).
The components of religiosity are (Cuciuc, 2003): religious faith as a spiritual experience through adherence to a model; the expression of faith through religious practice (behavior, prayer, rituals and religious worship); the theoretical dimension of religion (explanations, theories, dogmas, doctrines, myths and symbols) and patterns of religiosity, as a model of life transmitted from generation to generation based on the values of a group's continuity (ideas, principles, images, behaviors, practices, literature and places of worship).Definitions of religiosity can be divided into two directions, one focusing on content, i.e. beliefs, emotions and practices, and the other focusing on its functions related to the meaning of life, harmony with the divine and death (Zinnbauer, Pargament & Scott ,1999).
The study of religiosity encounters difficulties in terms of conceptualisation, definition of terms and variables.As far as research methods of religiosity are concerned, they are divided into: quantitative, qualitative and mixed, each trying to capture the dimensions of religiosity deductively, inductively or a combination of them.
If we refer to the interpretation of religion in the social and cultural context, the forms of expression (religious movements and religious dispositions) become phenomena existing on the surface, their legitimacy is not questioned, interpretations are not arbitrated, they are simply data to work with.Religion, placed in a social context, becomes in itself a social fact whose research aims at discovering social principles, which can however be critically evaluated.In this whole process of inquiry, we cannot ignore the following constitutive aspects: the partly historical context, the intersection with psychology through the use of motivational patterns as sociological variables and, last but not least, the intersection with phenomenology in highlighting culturally specific meanings (Wilson, 2000).In all this context, understanding a religious phenomenon brings with it difficulties when it comes to applying scientific procedures.Difficulties are primarily related to the researcher's affiliation with the religion to which he/she belongs, and therefore he/she must take into account his/her own attachment to valuegenerating religious beliefs.Researching a religious phenomenon cannot use certain methods and techniques used by sociological researchers in studying other phenomena to which man relates (Wilson, 2000).Many researchers, however, are interested in studying this phenomenon, i.e. religiosity, so by choosing one of these paths they try to capture this deeply religious feeling that makes the individual develop a religious attachment.
The aim of this article is to capture how religiosity is sociologically researched, drawing on recent quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches to the topic.

Methodological Framework
In order to achieve this goal, based on a bibliographic search, I searched for the most recent articles, using the word "religiosity" as a search engine.I accessed the academic databases that Transylvania University of Brasov has access to (ANELIS Plus), but I also searched for PhD theses/articles using the Google browser.I have selected the material by relevance and most recently published on this topic from 2000 to 2023.Within each approach (quantitative, qualitative and mixed) I have separated the articles that refer to religiosity in general and those that refer to the religiosity of Romanians.The main objectives were: to identify recent approaches to the religiosity of Romanians and to identify how the approach relates to the theme.

Quantitative Approaches to Religiosity
Based on the components of religiosity, several types of scales measuring religiosity have been elaborated over time.M.F Verbit (1970) developed a scale of the dimensions of religiosity based on the components of religiosity (ritual, religious doctrine, emotion, knowledge, ethics and community) one can determine the characteristics of religiosity in terms of: content, frequency, intensity and centrality.
Therefore, the author believes that the individual's behaviour towards each of these components is important, so religiosity can be measured.Based on the components of religiosity, C. Glock (1973) develops a scale of measurement according to: belief, knowledge, experience, practice (private rituals, public rituals) and consequences.Also in this direction, a conceptual model is elaborated (Cornwall, Albrech, Cunningham & Pitcher, 1986) based on: knowledge (traditional orthodoxy, private orthodoxy), effect (palpable, tangible) and behaviour (religious, religious participation).
The scale measuring indicators of religious orientation (Francis, 2007) is elaborated according to the concept of "religious orientation" developed by Allport and Ross in 1967.Religious orientation has an extrinsic component, whereby religion becomes a personal or social means to an aim, and an intrinsic component, whereby religion becomes an aim in itself.Therefore, the scale is created according to: intrinsic religiosity (integration, public manifestation and private manifestation), extrinsic religiosity (behaviours, social support and personal support) and religious search (existentialism, critical inquiry and openness to change).S. Joseph and D. DiDuca, (2007) propose another scale, based on the following dimensions: concern (importance given), conviction (beliefs), emotional involvement (religious experience) and guidance (divine guidance).
In terms of measuring Romanians' religiosity, a scale was developed based on the conceptualization of Christian religiosity in Romanians from the perspective of two dimensions: involvement through practicing religious life and faith through assuming dogmatic beliefs (Curelaru & Nastas, 2015).
Using quantitative methods, the first and most convenient option is to use the questionnaire.Many studies have tried to find a correlation between religiosity often associated with spirituality and demographic variables.Regarding the relationship between religiosity and empathy, a study shows that most often religious beliefs are positively associated with empathy (Łowick & Zajenkowski, 2016).Religiosity has also been associated with miraculous healings, and the social perception of these healings in their relation to a form of faith has highlighted that they are considered to be the intervention or action of God (Pawlikowski, Wiechetek, Sak & Jarosz, 2015).As far as family structure is concerned, it has been shown that it is not directly related to the religiosity of young people.Therefore, traditional families achieve less effective religious socialisation than other family typologies and the religiosity of parents only influences the religious participation of young people (Petts, 2014).In relation to prejudice, correlations between self-reported religiosity and relative attitude indicators were tested.The following was found: participants showed positive attitudes towards ingroups i.e.Christian, heterosexual and negative attitudes towards out-groups i.e.Muslim, atheist, LGBT (LaBouff, Rowatt, Johnson & Finkle, 2011).As values are closely related to religiosity, one study shows that religious people favour values that appreciate the preservation of social and individual order and disfavour values that encourage openness to change and autonomy (Saroglou, Delpierre & Dernelle, 2003).
Regarding the religiosity of Romanians, there is a significant correlation between religiosity, psychological well-being and demographic variables such as: gender, level of education of parents.Participants with parents who had a low level of education show higher religiosity, and women are more religious than men (Matei, Dumulescu & Opre, 2022).Other studies have found that there is a significant positive association with extrinsic (observable) religiosity, which prevents the manifestation of risky behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and drug use among young people (Roman, Zimmermann, & Plopeanu, 2022).Related to religious affiliation to Orthodoxy, there is a significant association with both types of religiosity (intrinsic, extrinsic) and intention to pursue a career in the public sector (Plopeanu, 2022).Another line of research was related to the relationship between religiosity and antisocial behaviour, and the conclusion was that moral-Christian education (in the context of studying the compulsory subject Religion) has a positive effect in terms of preventing antisocial behaviour in public schools in Romania (Onaga, Bălău, & Neagoe, 2019).However, if we look at the data provided by the Ministry of Education on violence in public schools in Romania, it is worrying that we are in third place in terms of acts of aggression between students, or between students and teachers.An international research project was conducted simultaneously in 10 European countries (Romania was included) on young people (14-29 years old) in South Eastern Europe in 2018/2019.The study highlighted the following aspects regarding the religiosity of Romanian youth: participation in religious services on major celebrations differs by demographic areas, predominantly religious or very religious family background has a strong influence on young people's religious beliefs and involvement, women are more religiously involved than men, and a strong valuation of married status/being married/having children (Badescu, Sandu, Angi & Greab, 2019).Also, in this sense, another study on the religiosity of young people in Romania becomes relevant, which revealed that between childhood and adulthood important changes occur in the religious life of the individual.Therefore, adolescents and young people strengthen the way of living the sacred acquired in childhood and later in school, and after 15 years there is a religious indifference and orientation towards other forms of spirituality, with a recovery in adulthood and old age (Cuciuc, 2002).Analyzing the religious phenomenon in the Romanian population according to the relation of religious values and behaviors to politics and political life of the most important confessions, it was found that the Romanian Orthodox are religious more through visible practices and less through internalized ones, having a low responsibility compared to the other confessions (Popescu, Tufiș & Paladă, 2012).Significant correlations between personal religiosity, family religiosity, demographic factors and family functionality for Romanian Orthodox believers are also highlighted (Rusu & Turliuc, 2011).
Still using quantitative methods, numerous statistical analyses, comparative analyses and content analyses have been carried out in an attempt to highlight other aspects of religiosity.A study carried out to examine and interpret the trend of religious unaffiliated people in Romania in the period 1992-2012, based on census data from 1992, 2002 and 2011, revealed that they are a distinct social category, predominantly men, young, educated and living in big cities (Gheorghe, 2018).
Following such statistical analyses, a number of conclusions were reached according to which, there are difficulties with the terminology of what religiosity is (Stamatoulakis, 2013) and the need to acquire new knowledge about the religious phenomenon using, however, a different approach by describing the state of religiosity and the completeness of the information on which it is based (Gorgan, 2013).

Qualitative approaches to religiosity
The qualitative approach brings new insights into religiosity through the use of interview, thematic analysis, case study and visual data coding.
In terms of the methodological implications of religion research, the religious affiliation of the researcher becomes of interest.Drawing on two auto-ethnographic case studies researching political-religious conflict in Vietnam and Lebanon, one research highlighted how the researcher's religiosity presents unique challenges, opportunities and insights for fieldwork.Therefore, the researcher's religious/nonreligious identity contributed to empathy with the research participants' experiences of discrimination or religious conflict.The fact that the researcher's religiosity is associated with empathy should not be seen as a weakness, this should make researchers of this type of phenomena self-reflective and aware of it (Rumsby & Eggert, 2023).Using as sources the oral history collection of the University of Daugavpils, interviews conducted by the author and starting from Soviet secularization, M. Grizāne (2022) proposes a different approach to religiosity focusing on the experience of old believers in Eastern Latvia.Despite pressure from the political regime demanding atheism, the old Latvian believers continued to practice religious rituals, thus managing to save the religious practice that is now being restored (Grizāne, 2022).
Through the use of visual data (graphic representations) religiosity is seen from another angle.An international research project on the interpretation of graphic representations of God "When Children Draw Gods a Multicultural and Interdisciplinary Approach to Children's Representations of Supernatural Agents" was conducted at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and published in 2023.This project focuses on inter-cultural and the cross-religious variation in graphic representations of God.The study was conducted as an international survey to discover how children graphically represent the image of God under the influence of various cultural backgrounds.Data was collected from school-age children in Argentina, Brazil, Iran, Japan, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Nepal and the United States (6500 drawings).Each chapter interprets the graphical representations from different perspectives to create a holistic vision of the subject.The main aim was to integrate the results of various psychological studies on children's drawings of God/Divinity.The study of religiosity has also been conducted using the phenomenographic method developed by Marton (1981).Through this phenomenographic method, based on the collected data (graphic representations) an attempt is made to discover and describe qualitatively distinct contents of the studied phenomenon.Through data analysis the researcher arrives at descriptive categories without having a theory (a priori formulated hypotheses) to guide them or other previous studies.Therefore, by using this method, the researcher obtains descriptive categories as research results, which can be systematized and interpreted in different ways.A study conducted as an empirical investigation aimed to examine differences in the concept of God among Sunni Turkish-German Muslim children (8-15 years) living in Germany using emergent thematic coding.Two main categories were identified in this study: direct representations (two themes of anthropomorphism identified with resemblance to and differentiation from humans and non-anthropomorphism identified in religious-cultural and metaphorical representations) and indirect representations (attributes of God, places of worship, the Qur'an, angels and the bond of love between God and humans, the rose represented the Prophet Muhammad, heaven and hell, heaven, Islam, brotherhood among Muslims, objects of worship, equality, peace, the grave and the devil).Non-anthropomorphic drawings have not gradually evolved with age, and anthropomorphic representations of God seem to ontologically move away from humans with age.Indirect representations of God appeared six times more than direct representations of God (especially religious-cultural drawings), and girls drew aesthetically, expressing an emotional connection to God, while boys depicted God more rationally and pragmatically in terms of human life and the world (Güleç , 2021).
Analysing the manifestation of older people's religiosity in Romania during the pandemic through social media, according to the church's online activity (online interactions) religion, social media and social networks have an impact on the manifestation of older people's religiosity (Chirugu & Damean, 2022).A study on unorthodox representations of the Divinity in 5-12 year olds highlights the main unorthodox features of the divinity (female, no legs, divinity brings food to people), children being interested in the divinity and being religious before being Christian, in a context of widening spirituality (Sorea &Scârneci -Domnișoru, 2018).Research conducted in Romania on parent-child dyads captures parental influences on children's religious development as emerging adults.Parents' behaviour as role models and their explanations as educators fit into an authoritarian style (Negru, Haragâș & Mustea, 2014).

Mixed approaches to religiosity
The mixed approach also contributes to the development of new aspects of religiosity.In analysing the role of community religiosity in the context of bereavement, a research on this topic using interviews and questionnaires highlights that after loss, personal religiosity in itself is not necessarily protective and the absence of community religiosity leads to vulnerability (Stelzer, Palitsky, Hernandez, Ramirez & O'Connor, 2020).Another study was conducted as part of a PhD thesis entitled: A Multidimensional Approach to Children's Drawings of God in French-Speaking Switzerland: A Developmental and Socio Cultural Account.Author G. Dessart, (2019) combines emergent coding of visual data with statistical analysis and longitudinal interviewing.The de-anthropomorphized human figure of God depended only on age.In the age range 5-17 years, the older the age, the more de-anthropomorphised the graphic representation of God became.Girls were less likely to draw God as male than boys, in general, God was predominantly male, although he was also mixed.The emotional expression of these graphic representations has been analysed by G. Dessart in terms of its intensity and its positive or negative valence, therefore, female gender and receiving a religious education were associated with a higher intensity and positive valence.Increasing age was associated with positive valence and there was a correlation with the socio-demographic data of the study participants (Dessart, 2019).Another approach on religiosity in cults versus religiosity in churches (ideal types of religious organisations) uses ethnographic methods, participatory observation, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, questionnaire and case studies on the Hare Krishna movement in Slovenia and compares them with some international survey results (Aufbruch, 1997 andISSP, 1998).The research highlights that there is a clear distinction between two types of religiosity, and Krishna followers are more active in their religious activities than Catholics and quite orthodox when it comes to applying religious rules in everyday life (Črnič , 2009).
Regarding the dimensions of Romanians' religiosity (religious belief and practice), statistically analyzing the correlation between religiosity and socio-demographic status, a study conducted using semi-structured interviews in this regard highlights a low level of religiosity manifested by a critical spirit and dissatisfaction with Christian values, beliefs and dogmas (Gheorghe, 2019).A research related to a PhD thesis entitled: Religion and Community in Late Modern Society.A case study of the Greek-Catholic Diocese of Cluj-Gherla, aims to make a quantitative and qualitative diagnosis of the state of affairs in the researched area, as well as possible interventions that could be made within the Greek-Catholic Diocese.The phenomenon of secularization is progressing through the use of coping strategies among Greek Catholic parishioners in the context of complex global changes (Gădălean, 2016).

Conclusions
After this presentation of the main methods and techniques for researching religiosity, what can be observed is that each method highlights a new dimension.Quantitative methods gather a lot of information about religiosity, but without being able to capture that "deeply religious feeling".In the case of the qualitative approach, it is not possible to generalise the results, but the depth aspects of religious experience can be captured.The mixed approach combines the two directions, gathers a lot of information in an attempt to generalize results about what religious feeling is.It becomes clear that the methodological option imposes certain limits on the interpretation of religious phenomena, limits that the researcher must take into account.The working data also includes spiritual values, which makes it difficult to interpret the religiosity of research participants.The researcher should not forget that his or her own religious attachments, or lack thereof, are factors to consider in designing the research.Depending on the approach chosen, it becomes relevant that research interests differ.The quantitative approach to studying religiosity focuses more on correlating religiosity (intrinsic, extrinsic) with: demographic variables (gender, age, level of education), family structure, attitudes and behaviours, values, social perception of the religion, psychological wellbeing, demographic area.For the qualitative approach, research interests are more oriented towards: interpreting the meanings of graphic representations, religious affiliation of the researcher and related implications, discovering and describing qualitatively distinct contents, manifestation of religiosity, parental influences, intercultural, secularization.For the mixed approach the research interests are oriented towards: the role of community religiosity, the relationship between the meanings of graphic representations and socio-demographic variables, the correlation of religiosity with socio-demographic status, quantitative and qualitative diagnosis.