[Key issues in researching spirituality and religiosity in the light of the ASPIRES instrument (Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments) Developed by Ralph Piedmont].

Our article reviews the major questions raised by the psychological research of spirituality and religion, as well as the historical background of this research area. In our view the scientific exploration of spirituality and religion constitutes a process that allows for both empirical and hermeneutical approaches and as such it is open for a dialogue with other branches of social sciences. The most important topics addressed by the article include: 1. possible conceptualizations of the terms spirituality and religion; the connection between the two; similarities and differences; 2. the interpretation of spirituality as a dimension of the personality; 3. the question of measurement of spirituality and tools of its measurement; 4. the effects of spirituality; and 5. the culture relatedness of research data. Finally we demonstrate how the ASPIRES scale recently developed by R. Piedmont, its theoretical approach, development process, and empirical results try to answer these key questions.