Theological Measures are a new kind of research tool designed for empirical work in practical theology. They combine the methodological rigour of quantitative methods—such as structured surveys or scales—with a deep, context-sensitive commitment to theological reflection and community listening.

Unlike questionnaires borrowed from psychology or sociology, Theological Measures are shaped from the ground up by theological commitments. They are built in conversation with specific Christian communities. Drawing from the model of Theology in Four Voices (Watkins 2020), they honour theological normative traditions, formal theologies and the emerging voices of the communities’ theological reflection and embodied faith practices. 

The result is a tool that helps theologians, students, and Christian leaders engage with real-world faith contexts in ways that are measurable, meaningful, and theologically grounded

A Familiar Tension in Practical Theology

• operational definitionsA clear, measurable definition of a concept used in a study. For instance, „closeness to God” might be defined in terms of agreement with statements on a 1-5 scale.
• indexabilityThe ability to organise and compare data using consistent categories – making it easier to analyse and revisit in future research.
• and intersubjectiveThe quality of research findings being understandable and testable by others – not just personal or anecdotal. This supports transparency and shared learning across studies. results—those that can be tested and replicated across contexts.

• between a person’s image of God and their spiritual practices, or
• between perceived location of God and the type of prayer—

From Tension to Integration

Advantages of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Limitations of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Visual Summary: Mapping the Methodological Polarity

At first glance, Theological Measures may look like psychological or sociological survey tools. But they are shaped, at every level, by theological commitments. This is not just research about theology—it is research shaped from within theology. What makes Theological Measures distinct is the theological focus and commitment built into the process of creating the tool—right from the beginning.

Goal

The goal of Theological Measures is not only to expand knowledge, but to support discernment: to help us ask what God is doing in the Church today, and what He might be inviting us—theologians, pastors, and leaders—to notice and respond to.

This means that the process of developing a measure is marked by a deep commitment to uncovering not just what people think about faith or how they perform it for academic interest, but what they believe, say, and do—because it is in those lived practices that we seek to discern God’s work.

This commitment also involves a willingness to attend to a wide range of theological phenomena—including those that are non-verbal, symbolic, or rooted in contextually rich expressions of prayer, action, or relationship. It honours the embodied and experiential nature of the life of faith.

Process

Theological Measures reflect an emic orientation: they represent the insider’s perspective, written not from a distance but from within the faith community being studied. The researcher’s task is not only descriptive but also participatory—she listens as one who belongs.

While the development of many psychological measures also begins with deep, empathetic listening to identify emerging themes, the theological process adds another dimension: a theological and spiritual intent.

Here, as in qualitative theological research, listening itself becomes a spiritual practice. Through sitting with the voices emerging from interviews—alongside normative and formal theological voices—the theologian seeks not only clarity, but insight.

“What concerns the theological action researcher is not so much the ‘content’ of the different voices but rather the insight that is gained through sitting with them all, in open, listening conversation. These insights are recognised in what we came to call moments of ‘disclosure’, or epiphany – communally shared learning points, where we might just have caught a glimpse (albeit fragmentary and partial) of that divine word and action which we seek to discern.”
— Watkins (2020)

This spiritual posture of listening continues in the use of the survey itself. Even structured, quantitative tools become a way of attending to what God is doing in the Church.

Exploring Embodied and Local Theologies

Theological Measures take seriously the idiosyncratic nature of local theologies, attending to what emerges uniquely in a particular setting—without reducing it to abstraction or generalisation that can feel alienating.

From this follows a commitment to, as much as possible, preserving the language in which the community expresses its faith and practice. Theological Measures seek to honour this language—not by reducing it, but by listening closely to how theology is already spoken and lived.

But theological insight alone is not enough—what makes these tools distinct is how that insight is translated into measurable form.

Theological Measures are more than reflections shaped by theological understanding. They are instruments of measurement—structured tools designed to explore specific aspects of Christian life and thought in a way that is consistent, testable, and reliable.

Each measure is a quantitative survey, carefully constructed to gather responses that can be compared, analysed, and interpreted.

Structured and Testable

Each Theological Measure consists of clearly defined items—statements or questions—answered using a consistent response scale. These responses express theological concepts in operational terms.

The structure of the measure supports:

• Indexability: results are organised through consistent categories, enabling ongoing and repeatable analysis
• Intersubjectivity: the data are designed to be understood and tested by others, supporting transparency and shared learning
• Validity and reliability: every measure is constructed to ensure it captures what it intends to, and does so consistently

Theological Measures are designed to meet the requirement of generalisability. Though often more context-specific than psychological measures, they still allow for comparison across groups, contexts, or timeframes.

This enables researchers to:

• Identify patterns
• Discover trends
• Compare different groups
• Search for correlates

Engage theological questions through structured data

Designed with Methodological Care

While rooted in theological inquiry, Theological Measures are developed in collaboration with quantitative research specialists. This ensures that:

• Each item is clear, meaningful, and statistically appropriate
• The tool has internal consistency and coherence

The results contribute meaningfully to both theological and interdisciplinary conversations

Measurable, Yet Meaningful

To measure something does not mean to reduce it. Theological Measures are designed to bring clarity without flattening—allowing researchers to explore theological themes using structured tools that are both methodologically sound and theologically grounded.

Theological Measures may be survey-based, but they do not begin with numbers—they begin with listening. Each measure is developed through a careful, multi-phase process that blends theological reflection with methodological rigour.

The goal is not simply to ask theological questions in a structured way, but to create tools that are born from listening to faith communities, and built for meaningful analysis.

Step 1: Listening Theologically

The process always begins with listening: with in-depth and focus group interviews within Christian communities, and engagement with the normative and formal theological voices, including, respectively, the theology of Scriptures, the Creeds, official Church teaching and liturgy, and the theology of theologians (Watkins 2020). 

These are not just data collection exercises—they are spaces of attentive, theologically informed listening. Researchers gather the frameworks and wisdom from the normative and formal sources and language, insights, and patterns from lived experience. In doing so, they seek to understand not only what people say or do, but what it reveals about their espoused and operant theology (Watkins 2020): their assumptions, desires, questions, and spiritual language.

Step 2: Theological Reflection and Thematic Analysis

Themes emerging from empirical data are analysed in conversation with theological sources and traditions—especially those relevant to the measure’s focus (e.g. prayer, discipleship, vocation).

This stage involves practical-theological reasoning: identifying meaningful categories that respect both the lived experience of participants and the theological commitments that underlie them.

Step 3: Collaborative Design

Next, researchers work alongside quantitative methodologists to translate these themes into structured survey items. This stage is technical and collaborative. It ensures:

• clarity and coherence of language,
• appropriate scale formats,
• and alignment between theological intent and methodological soundness.

Step 4: Piloting and Refinement

The draft measure is tested—first in small pilot studies, then with larger groups. Feedback is used to revise the wording, structure, and balance of the measure.

Statistical testing helps refine item quality, scale functioning, and internal consistency.

At each step, the measure is reviewed not only for technical rigour, but also for theological integrity. The exercise of navigating the tension between qualitative and quantitative logics is practised multiple times at each stage of measure design.

The result is a tool that is at once community-rooted, conceptually clear, and ready for wider use—a Theological Measure in the fullest sense.

Theological Measures are created for people who care deeply about theology—and want to engage with real-world faith in a thoughtful, structured way. Whether you’re working in an academic setting or a ministry context, these tools can help you frame meaningful, focused questions, discover patterns, and reflect theologically on lived experience.

For Theology Students

If you’re a student learning how theology relates to everyday life, Theological Measures can introduce you to empirical research as a form of theological inquiry.
You’ll see how theology can be studied in communities—and how structured tools can help you explore practices and beliefs.

For Practical Theologians

If you’re a scholar already using qualitative methods—or experimenting with basic surveys—Theological Measures offer a more theologically intentional way to do quantitative research.
They are designed to reflect theological commitments from the ground up, while remaining methodologically sound and useful for wider analysis.

For Pastors, Chaplains, and Christian Leaders

If you’re engaged in ministry and want to understand your community more deeply, Theological Measures can help you reflect theologically on what your people value, struggle with, or hope for.
They offer a way to listen at scale—to gather insights that inform preaching, pastoral care, and strategic decisions, all while staying rooted in theological meaning.

Whether you’re writing a thesis, conducting academic research, or leading a church, Theological Measures are for those who want to take both faith and method seriously—and believe they belong together.

❓ Aren’t these just psychological or sociological measures?

They might look similar at first glance—and it’s true that some psychological measures, for example many of those studying prayer, have been developed in Christian contexts. But Theological Measures are different in where they start and what they prioritise.

Psychological and sociological measures of religion and spirituality are often designed for broad generalisability, using categories that fit many religious and spiritual contexts. Theological Measures, by contrast, begin with explicit theological commitments. They are shaped intentionally by Christian traditions and are developed as tools for theological reflection, not just data collection and analysis.

It’s a bit like climbing the same mountain from two different sides. The arrival point and the view from the top might overlap, but the starting point, the questions asked along the way, and the purpose of the journey are distinct.

❓ Can I still use existing psychological or sociological measures in theological research?

Absolutely. There is nothing wrong with applying existing psychological or sociological measures in theological research—especially when these tools are grounded in sound theological knowledge, as many are. Another valuable approach is to adapt such measures for theological purposes. We look forward to sharing interviews and blog posts from researchers who have done just that. 👉 (links to come)

Another excellent way to maximise the synergy between qualitative and quantitative is through mixed-method studies, which combine surveys with qualitative methods. This too can be done using Theological Measures, depending on your research questions and the needs they express. Our ongoing research project on prayer and God representations is an example of such a study, combining our new theological measure of God’s Where-Being, existing psychological tools, and semi-structured interviews (both individual and focus groups).

What makes Theological Measures distinct is the theological focus and commitment built into the process of creating the tool—right from the beginning.

❓ What about the generalisability of Theological Measures?

That’s a fair concern. Theological Measures won’t always be as widely generalisable as psychological ones—and that’s by design.

But this doesn’t mean they’re limited in usefulness. Many measures can be adapted to specific denominations, traditions, or contexts. Some will include subscales or alternative wording for particular groups.

Within larger denominations, even a more narrowly defined measure can support comparisons across subgroups—helping researchers understand how different communities express or experience shared theological themes.

❓ Are Theological Measures neutral or objective?

They aim to be clear and consistent, but not value-neutral. They are shaped intentionally by theological frameworks, and their purpose is not only to describe but also to support discernment, reflection, and faithful practice. They are accountable to both empirical standards and theological integrity.

❓ Can I use a Theological Measure in my own research or ministry context?

Yes! The site will provide guidance on how to do this well. You can find practical steps under the “How to Use a Theological Measure” section (coming soon), including tips for applying them in student projects, parish settings, chaplaincy, or academic research.

❓ Are Theological Measures only for Catholic contexts?

No. While the initial measures draw from a Catholic theological perspective, they are intended to serve a broad Christian audience. The methods used can be adapted to different traditions, and future measures may reflect other theological backgrounds as well.

❓ Isn’t theology too complex or sacred to be measured?

This is an important concern. Theological Measures are not trying to reduce mystery to numbers. Instead, they offer a structured way of engaging real, lived expressions of faith—helping us notice patterns, reflect more deeply, and support communities with insight that’s both measurable and meaningful.

❓ I usually work with qualitative methods. Are these tools still relevant to me?

Absolutely. Theological Measures are designed to complement, not replace, qualitative approaches. In fact, they are built from insights that emerge through qualitative listening. Many practical theologians may find them a helpful extension of the work they’re already doing.

Still have questions?
Feel free to get in touch or check back as new content and resources are added.

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