Survey on the Sociology of Religion

KennethM · Post by **KennethM** » Wed May 05, 2010 9:52 pm

Hello everyone,

I am currently conducting some preliminary research in the area of the sociology of religion and I am hoping some of you might be willing to help me out (the link will be at the bottom of the post). The survey is totally confidential, I don't ask for anything that will identify who you are or where you are from, though I am trying to keep it relevant to adults within the US and Canada. As a majority of our nation identifies as believing in some sort of personal god I thought that this would be a good place to try and garner some info. And as it is a debate forum, I do hope that I will receive a full spectrum of answers.

The survey is short, a mere 9 questions and all of which are multiple choice, it shouldn't take more than a minute to fill out. The lay out is simple, what religion, if any, do you most identify with, a few questions about how strong your convictions are, and a couple socio-economic background questions (i.e. a rough estimate of your income/education). It might seem too short to give me any good data but as I said, it is preliminary research. My hope is that if I can get a decent sample this might lead to further and more in depth research.

If you follow the link, this should take you to the survey. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes a minute to help out!

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22ALHRTBW9J

Pls. feel free to PM me if you have any questions or just reply to this thread.

Cheers!

-K. M.

Zzyzx · Post by **Zzyzx** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:13 pm

.
Hi Kenneth,

Will you be a contributing member of the forum?

The questionnaire answers seem a bit limited. For instance, "Non-Theist" and "Ignostic" are not listed as choices for belief or convictions.

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Thu May 06, 2010 6:13 am

How likely are you to vote for an individual who who is of a different religion?

More like

How likely are you to have the option to vote for an individual who who is of my own religion?

Not bloody likely.

How likely are you to vote for a person who is of the same faith but a different denomination? (I.e. a Protestant voting for an Anglican)

Thems fighting words to the Anglicans of the Protestant wing. My lack of faith has no denominations.

KennethM · Post by **KennethM** » Thu May 06, 2010 7:33 am

Zzyzx, I do hope to become a contributing member of the board. However, while my research is going on I might want to remain neutral in any debates.

Also, I definitely could have listed more religions but for all intents and purposes the 4 major denominations of Christianity, 2 denominations of Judaism, 2 denominations of Islam, 3 denominations of Buddhists, 2 denominations of Pagans, and 2 denominations of non-believers is a fine sampling as nearly anyone polled would be able to say they identify with one of those groups. I know the survey seems really brief, but I know exactly what I am looking for. If the data I believe will show up actually does then I will begin to search more in depth into the matter.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the survey so far.

KennethM · Post by **KennethM** » Thu May 06, 2010 7:44 am

McCulloch, the questions are hypothetical. For instance, the chance of an atheist being able to vote for an atheist in the US is pretty unlikely as there is only one openly atheist member of congress.

Also, Anglicans sit in a strange spot. I was raised in the Episcopalian church which separated from the Church of England after the revolution. Their motto is Protestant, yet Catholic. While true Protestants were formed after Martin Luther's reformation the Anglicans were formed due to Henry VIII wanting more divorces. For that reason and others I list them separately from Catholics and Protestants.

JoeyKnothead · Post by **JoeyKnothead** » Thu May 06, 2010 8:58 am

I keep taking these surveys thinking there'll be candy at the end. Alas, I am mistaken again

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Thu May 06, 2010 9:21 am

KennethM wrote: For instance, the chance of an atheist being able to vote for an atheist in the US is pretty unlikely as there is only one openly atheist member of congress.

I'll bet that there are a number of closet atheists. We atheists need our own OUT campaign.

KennethM wrote: Also, Anglicans sit in a strange spot. I was raised in the Episcopalian church which separated from the Church of England after the revolution. Their motto is Protestant, yet Catholic. While true Protestants were formed after Martin Luther's reformation the Anglicans were formed due to Henry VIII wanting more divorces. For that reason and others I list them separately from Catholics and Protestants.

The taxonomy of religion is a minefield. You are a brave lad to enter in. I would agree to put the Anglican Communion in the nether realm of both Catholic and Protestant is probably prudent.

Are you taking any measures to avoid bias in your sampling?

KennethM · Post by **KennethM** » Thu May 06, 2010 7:06 pm

Thanks, McCulloch. The religious divisions are possibly more complex than anything else I will have to deal with in this survey. I feel bad enough combining Baptists and Presbyterians and Pentecostals but I think they are all more similar with one another than the Anglicans are with them.

I honestly think it was that factioning that made me interested in religion at a young age. My mother was Episcopalian and my father was French Catholic (anyone with a Quebecois family knows what I am talking about) and early on as a family we spent a hot minute going to my father's friend's church which was Southern Baptist.

As for taking any measures to avoid bias in my sampling, luckily I can review each individual set of answers. So I can graph just the Christians or just the Atheists, or just the people who have Masters Degrees or just the people who make $25,00 - 30,000/year.

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Thu May 06, 2010 9:08 pm

KennethM wrote: As for taking any measures to avoid bias in my sampling, luckily I can review each individual set of answers.

Well, recruiting responses from a religious debating site is a sure way to skew your results. In fact, given the social taboo, getting people who are willing to discuss religions is probably a biased sample. Catch 22 there!

KennethM · Post by **KennethM** » Thu May 06, 2010 9:18 pm

McCulloch wrote:
KennethM wrote: As for taking any measures to avoid bias in my sampling, luckily I can review each individual set of answers.

Well, recruiting responses from a religious debating site is a sure way to skew your results. In fact, given the social taboo, getting people who are willing to discuss religions is probably a biased sample. Catch 22 there!

Not necessarily. This isn't the only place I am getting people to take this survey. My hope is that as this is a debate site I will be able to gather info from all perspectives. Plus, given enough data any survey can overcome most bias.