FSD3211 Gallup Ecclesiastica 2015
The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.
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Study description in other languages
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Study title
Gallup Ecclesiastica 2015
Dataset ID Number
FSD3211
Persistent identifier
urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3211Data Type
Quantitative
Authors
- Church Research Institute
Abstract
The survey studied the religiosity and church membership in Finland as well as people's participation in parish activities. Questions about faith, spiritual matters, and religious communities were asked.
The respondents were first asked whether they were members of a church or other religious community. Those who were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and Orthodox Church were asked about the importance of a number of reasons for the Church membership (e.g. the possibility to participate in Church service, act as a godparent, the Christian values taught by the Church, aid offered by the Church) and whether they had considered quitting the Church. Those who were not members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church were asked whether they had previously quit the Church, what their reasons for quitting had been, whether they had considered joining the Church, and whether they thought that Church members should be able to choose their parish instead of it being assigned according to their area of residence.
Participation in parish activities was examined with questions relating to, for example, how often the respondents attended church services or voluntary parish work and how often they prayed, read the Bible, watched or listened to religious programmes on TV or radio, and visited web sites related to religion. A number of questions surveying satisfaction with the parish, its services, and communication were also presented.
Next, opinions on issues relating to the Church and religion were examined. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements regarding, for example, the ordination of women, same-sex marriage, and the presence of religion in schools and on TV. Opinions on the status of religious communities and presence of religion in society were charted with questions relating to, for example, whether all religious communities should have equal status in legislation and whether the visibility of religion was acceptable for public officials.
Views were probed on the respondents' belief in God as well as the firmness of belief in a number of religious tenets and phenomena (e.g. a good God, angels, the Devil). Religious identity was examined by asking whether the respondents saw themselves as, for instance, religious, spiritual, Christian, Lutheran, religious conservative, atheist or agnostic. Membership in revivalist movements or Lutheran communities was queried as well. The respondents were also asked to choose which statements about religion and religious activities they thought described their childhood home and whether they had taught or would teach their children a bedtime prayer.
Attitudes towards other religious communities were examined with questions regarding the gathering places of different religious communities in the respondent's area of residence and the use of visible religious symbols by public officials. The respondents were also asked how many members of other religious communities they knew. Attitudes towards Finland, Finnish nationality and different groups of people were also charted (e.g. whether the respondents thought that Finland was generally a better country than most others, that an essential part of being Finnish was to adopt Finnish customs, and that there would be less problems if everyone was treated equally).
Finally, the respondents' personal values were examined with a number of statements regarding, for example, striving for the common good above personal gain, following the law, and gender equality. Statements on spiritual affairs such as the healing power of crystals and giving up a materialistic lifestyle were also presented. Opinions on death were examined with questions relating to what happens after death and how the respondents would want to be buried. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements relating to work, family and leisure activities. Participation in voluntary or organizational activity as well as the most important factors in encouraging participation were also charted.
Background variables included, among others, the respondent's year of birth, gender, NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions of residence, level of education, status in employment, household composition and household income.
Keywords
beliefs; church; participation; protestantism; religion; religious doctrines; religious movements; religious practice
Topic Classification
- Humanities (Fields of Science Classification)
- Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
- Religion and values (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Series
Gallup EcclesiasticaDistributor
Finnish Social Science Data Archive
Access
The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.
Data Collector
- Taloustutkimus
Time Period Covered
2015
Collection Dates
2015-10-23 – 2015-11-02
Nation
Finland
Geographical Coverage
Finland
Analysis/Observation Unit Type
Individual
Universe
People aged 15- 79 residing in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)
Time Method
Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section
Sampling Procedure
Probability
The sample was drawn from among the Taloustutkimus internet panel members, based on the available background information, to form a target group. Invitations to respond to the survey were sent by email to the target group. The internet panel of Taloustutkimus has over 50,000 members. The invitation was sent to 19,119 persons, of which 4,194 responded.
Collection Mode
Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)
Research Instrument
Structured questionnaire
Data File Language
Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.
The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English and Finnish.
FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.
Number of Cases and Variables
312 variables and 4194 cases.
Data Version
1.0
Related Datasets
FSD3538 Interviews on Nonreligion with Young Adults in the Capital Region 2018
Completeness of Data and Restrictions
To prevent identification of participants, the variable denoting the municipality of residence as well as all open-ended responses to the "Other, please specify" response option were removed from the data.
Weighting
The data include a weight variable bv1 (paino), which weights the data to be representative of the general population in terms of gender, age, region of residence and religious affiliation.
Citation Requirement
The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.
Bibliographical Citation
Church Research Institute: Gallup Ecclesiastica 2015 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2019-10-29). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3211
Deposit Requirement
Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.
Disclaimer
The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.
Related Publications
Ketola, Kimmo, Hytönen, Maarit, Salminen, Veli-Matti, Sohlberg, Jussi & Sorsa, Leena (2016) Osallistuva luterilaisuus. Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko vuosina 2012-2015: Tutkimus kirkosta ja suomalaisista. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen julkaisuja 125. Tampere: Kirkon tutkimuskeskus.
Ketola, Kimmo & Salminen, Veli-Matti & Sohlberg, Jussi & Sorsa, Leena (2018). Socially Engaged Lutheranism. Finnish attitudes to faith and the Church in the light of surveys and statistics. The Church Research Institute, Publications 64.
Ketola, Kimmo; Hytönen, Maarit; Salminen, Veli-Matti; Sohlberg, Jussi & Sorsa, Leena 2017: Luthersk delaktighet: Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland 2012-2015: En undersökning om kyrkan och finländarna. (Kyrkans forskningscentrals publikationer, 126) Tammerfors: Kyrkans forskningscentral.
Salomäki, Hanna & Hytönen, Maarit & Ketola, Kimmo & Salminen, Veli-Matti & Sohlberg, Jussi (2020): Uskonto arjessa ja juhlassa: Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko vuosina 2016-2019 [verkkodokumentti]. Tampere: Kirkon tutkimuskeskus. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen julkaisuja 134. https://julkaisut.evl.fi/catalog/Tutkimukset%20ja%20julkaisut/r/4238 [viitattu 9.2.2021]
Salomäki, Hanna & Hytönen, Maarit & Ketola, Kimmo & Salminen, Veli-Matti & Sohlberg, Jussi (toim.) (2020): Kirkon kehittämistyön tukena: Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko vuosina 2016-2019. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 64. Tampere: Kirkon tutkimuskeskus. https://julkaisut.evl.fi/catalog/Tutkimukset%20ja%20julkaisut/r/4240 [viitattu 9.2.2021]
Hytönen, Maarit (2021)Kuinka käy kristillisen kasvatuksen? Crux 1/2021. 36 - 39.
Hytönen, Maarit (2021) Kaste suomalaisten kokemuksena ja saarnojen aiheena. Vol 1 Nro 1 (2021): Uskonto, katsomus ja kasvatus. https://journal.fi/ukk/issue/view/7859
Salomäki, Hanna; Hytönen, Maarit; Ketola, Kimmo; Salminen, Veli-Matti & Sohlberg, Jussi (2021): Religion till vardags och fest. Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland 2016-2019. Kyrkans forskningscentrals publikationer 135. Tampere: Kyrkans forskningscentral.
Salomäki, Hanna; Hytönen, Maarit; Ketola, Kimmo; Salminen, Veli-Matti & Sohlberg, Jussi (2021): Religion in Daily Life and in Celebration. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, 2016-2019. Tampere: The Church Research Institute.
Haasio, Ari & Mattila, Markku (2021) Suvaitsematon Suomi: suvaitsemattomuuden historia. Avain.
Niemi, R.-M. (2021) Kirkkoon kuulumisen yhteys elinajanodotteeseen Suomen aikuisväestössä 1999-2018. Helsingin yliopisto.
Meriläinen, Heidi (2022). Päättyikö tuki haudalle? Omaisten kokemuksia seurakunnan tarjoamasta tuesta hautajaisten jälkeen. Pastoraaliteologian maisterintutkielma. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto.
Ketola, Kimmo & Sohlberg, Jussi. 2022. Ketkä näkevät enkeleitä? Suomalaisten yliluonnolliset kokemukset ja enkeliusko kyselytutkimusten valossa. Teoksessa: Minna Opas & Tiina Mahlamäki (toim.), Uushenkisyys, 94-117. (Tietolipas 275) Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.
Study description in machine readable DDI-C 2.5 format
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