Construction, Validity and Reliability of the Inventory of Basic Religious Knowledge (IBRK)

Abstract

This study aimed to measure the validity and reliability of the Inventory of Basic Religious Knowledge (IBRK) or in Malay, ‘Inventori Pengetahuan Asas Agama’. The IBRK questionnaire aimed to measure an individual’s fundamental knowledge of Islam based on four subscales, namely the purification of minor impurities, purification of major impurities, Adhan and Iqamah, and five-time prayer. The IBRK contains 50 items in which every subscale contains 10 items, and each of them consists of 5 positive items and 5 negative items; except for the five-times prayer subscale which contains 20 items, with 10 positive items and 10 negative items. The theoretical framework used for this study is a combination of the basics of Fardhu Ain and Fardhu Kifayah, which describes the specific knowledge and practices that are very important for every Muslim to practise in order to become an ideal Muslim. Six experts in the fields of religion, counselling and languages were selected to answer a specially designed questionnaire in order to get the validity of IBRK. 40 final year undergraduates from the Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia were chosen to answer the questionnaire in order to get the reliability of IBRK. Results show that IBRK has good content validity and overall reliability. this study is considered successful in building a basic framework for IBRK. Finally, it is recommended that further studies be conducted to upgrade the IBRK for usage in the future.