Study title

Church Resignation Forms Filed in Finland: Reasons for Resigning 2018

Dataset ID Number

FSD3379

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3379

Data Type

Qualitative

Authors

• Vakaumusten tasa-arvo VATA ry
• Tampereen vapaa-ajattelijat ry

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Sampling from the total data was done by Jori Mäntysalo

Abstract

The online eroakirkosta.fi service, maintained by two Finnish associations, allows people to resign from church by filling in an online form. After filling in the form, people are given an opportunity to explain their reasons for resigning in free-text format. This dataset consists of the reasons entered by 1,023 people when quitting the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland or the Finnish Orthodox Church in 2018. The dataset is part of the annually supplemented data series which examines the reasons for leaving church submitted by a sample of approximately 1,000 people on the eroakirkosta.fi online service each year.

Background information includes age, gender and month of leaving church. The data have been organised into an easy to use HTML version at FSD.

The dataset is only available in the languages used for entering the information (mainly Finnish, a few comments in English and Swedish).

Keywords

church; membership; religion; religious affiliation; religious behaviour; religious beliefs; religious institutions

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Religion and values (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social change (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Reasons for Resigning from Church

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• Vakaumusten tasa-arvo ry

Time Period Covered

2018

Collection Dates

2018-01-01 – 2018-12-31

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People who had quit the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland or the Finnish Orthodox Church on eroakirkosta.fi

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Systematic random

The archived dataset was sampled from the data of 14,308 resignation forms that included information on the reasons for leaving church. Blank responses were removed from all the feedback left in 2018 before sampling. The remaining 12,313 responses were sorted by time and date, and every 12th response was selected.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Programming script

Data Files

Textual explanations submitted by 1,023 persons in a single TXT file and in HTML format.

Data File Language

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: multilingual and Finnish.

Qualitative data are available in their original language only and are not translated.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

All direct and indirect identifiers, including smaller places of residence, relating to the respondent or other private persons were removed from the data. The exact date of resignation was also removed. Anonymised sections are marked with [square brackets].

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

Vakaumusten tasa-arvo VATA ry & Tampereen vapaa-ajattelijat ry: Church Resignation Forms Filed in Finland: Reasons for Resigning 2018 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2020-03-03). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3379

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

Äystö, Tuomas & Koivula, Aki & Wessman, Anna & Kyyrö, Jere & Hjelm, Titus (2022). Miksi suomalaiset eroavat evankelis-luterilaisesta kirkosta? Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 87 (2022):2, s. 129-140.