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Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness to experience, Agreeableness and 

Conscientiousness with 10 questions used for each factor. 

 

2.4 PROCEDURE 

 

The questionnaire, which included the three scales measuring paranormal 

belief, religious belief and personality factors, was distributed to participants 

using the opportunity method.  Participants were informed that their answers 

would remain anonymous and they could choose not to complete it if they 

wished. This was stated verbally and in writing. 

 

2.5 ETHICS 

 

Because of the involvement of human participants in the research process, 

the ethical principles for conducting research, as stated by the BPS (1992), 

were closely followed.  It was made clear to all of the participants, both 

verbally and in writing that participation was entirely voluntary and that 

they were free to withdraw consent for their completed questionnaire at any 

time, and for whatever reason.  

 

 

 

 

3. RESULTS

 

 

3.1

 

INTERNAL CONSISTENCIES

 

 

Table 1 shows the internal consistencies (as rated by Cronbach’s Alpha) for 

all the scales used in the study.  These statistics show that all the scales are 

performing adequately among the sample used.  The one notable exception 

was the Extraordinary Life Forms scale, which had an initial coefficient of 

.48 before one item was removed (question number 20: ‘There is life on 

other planets’) resulting in an Alpha of Cronbach of .71.  The only other 

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Cronbach Alpha below .70 was Relativism on the PCBS but the score of .69 

was only just below and considered acceptable, particularly as the maximum 

coefficient that could have been obtained, was .71 if one item was removed 

(question number 28: ‘Secular and religious conceptions of the world give 

valuable answers to important questions about life’).  These results provide 

further confirmatory evidence regarding the internal consistency and 

validity of the Big Five personality inventory (for a review of literature see 

Costa and McRae, 1992) and the PBS-R (Tobayck and Milford, 1983; 

Tobayck, 1988) and also for the PCBS, which has only been used before in 

Belgium (Duriez et al., 2000; Duriez, Fontaine and Hutsebaut, 2000; 

Fontaine et al., 2003). 

 

Table 1.  Cronbach Alpha coefficients for all the scales used. 

 

Scale 

 

 

Cronbach’s Alpha 

Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS-R) 

•

 

Global 

•

 

Traditional Religious Beliefs 

•

 

Psi 

•

 

Witchcraft 

•

 

Superstition 

•

 

Spiritualism 

•

 

Extraordinary Life Forms 

•

 

Precognition 

 

.91 

.87 

.72 

.87 

.85 

.79 

.71* 

.83 

Post- Critical Belief Scale (PCBS) 

•

 

Global 

•

 

Orthodoxy 

•

 

External Critique 

•

 

Relativism 

•

 

Second Naiveté 

 

.77 

.82 

.87 

.69 

.73 

Big Five Personality Factors 

•

 

Neuroticism 

•

 

Extraversion 

•

 

Openness to Experience 

•

 

Agreeableness 

•

 

Conscientiousness 

 

.88 

.85 

.82 

.78 

.84 

*

The original Cronbach Alpha score for this was .48 before one item (Q20) was removed.

 

 

 

 

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3.2 RELIGIOSITY AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS 

 

A simple regression was used to determine whether religious belief was 

predicted by paranormal belief. A significant relationship was revealed.  

Simple regression, using the enter method, was performed revealing a 

significant relationship between the two constructs (F 1, 63 = 10.30, p > 

0.05).  The adjusted R square = 0.127. 

 

The scatterplot of the relationship between paranormal belief and religiosity 

suggested a linear relationship between the two variables.  It is possible to 

predict a person’s religiosity from their paranormal beliefs.  The equation is 

Y’ = 99.28 + 0.26X, where X is an individual’s paranormal belief score and 

Y’ is the best prediction of their religiosity score. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3.  Graph showing the relationship between (global) religious belief 

scores and (global) paranormal belief scores  

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Paranormal Belief

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

R

eli

gi

os

ity

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

 

 

 

 

Multiple regression, using the enter method

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, was performed to find out 

which one -if any- of the paranormal subscales predicts religiosity.  No 

significant model emerged for the predictor variables (F 7, 57 = 1.79, p > 

0.05).  The adjusted R square = 0.079.  Significant variables are shown 

below: 

 

Predictor Variable:                  

Beta                      

P           

Precognition 

   0.471 

  p = 0.030 

 

(Traditional Religious Belief, Psi, Witchcraft, Superstition, Spiritualism and 

Extraordinary Life Forms were not found to significantly predict 

religiosity). 

 

Another multiple regression analysis was performed, again using the enter 

method, this time to find out which one -if any- of the religiosity subscales 

predicts belief in the paranormal.  No significant model emerged for the 

                                                 

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 Note: although the sample size is smaller than is sometimes considered adequate for 

multiple regression, the sample size is in advance of the minimum number outlined by 

Bruce, Kemp and Snelgar (2003) of five times as many participants as predictor variable: 

the observed ratio is an acceptable 11 to 1. 

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