Constructing and Validating the Initial Test of Empathy Based on the Islamic Sources

This research was carried out with the aim of constructing an initial test of empathy based on the Islamic sources. Content analysis method was used for studying the sources, and stratified random sampling method was utilized for evaluating the reliability and validity of the test. A sample of 100 students at Imam Khomeini Institute of Education and Research and female seminary students of Qom in the academic year of 2016-2017 took part in the experiment. The structure of the variables for empathy obtained from the Islamic sources includes behavioral, emotional and cognitive components. According to the leading experts in religion and psychology and the multiple Likert scale, the validity of the structure was measured with the mean total of 3.8 and the variance of 0.047. The validity of the items was obtained with a mean of 3.6 and a variance of 0.022. The reliability of the test was obtained through the internal consistency of the questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.91. Split half cooefficient also showed a reliability of 0.87 and 0.81 for two halves. Therefore, this test has appropriate reliability and validity.