ABSTRACT
There are several reasons why it is desirable to measure a concept by using multiple indicators rather than one. First, it helps get at the complexity of the concept. Unless we have defined a concept very narrowly we need multiple indicators to tap the complexity of most concepts (see Chapter 4). To measure religiousness we could ask how often someone attends church, but if we see religiousness as more complex than this we would also ask about beliefS or ritual observance, and work out how important religion is in a person's life. Taken together these questions provide a better measure of religiousness than a rather barren and partial single measure.
