My survey research class has begun, and I’m really enjoying it so far. I ran into a snag though with my project when my teacher explained that the assignment we we’re going to be required to complete was much less involved than what I was wanting to do – basically we were assigned to complete a survey analysis of peer-reviewed research in a popular Sociological journal. However, I told him what I was thinking in terms of my proposal to study the spiritual environment at UTD, and he loved the idea. I will have to redirect a little in order to satisfy the requirements of the class, meaning I will have to survey a random stratified, semi-disproportionate sample of the UTD population. What that basically means is that I will have to identify the particular population I want to study. I have decided on 18-24 year old, degree-seeking, full-time students stratified by ethnicity, gender, age, and nationality (possibly even outside Texas as another level). Since I won’t be able to acquire religious information from UTD I will have to tweak my sample to ensure a proper representation of this specific group (since it is the target group in terms of research). I believe these added guidelines won’t be problematic as they will enable me to compare inter-religiously (namely as it pertains to Christianity) as well as intra-religiously. A few of my hypothesis thus far are: (1) Religious beliefs and attitudes do not significantly affect how one makes major life choices, therefore (2) There will be a weak correlation inter-religiously to major life choices, but will be a strong correlation intra-religiously. In other words, commonality will exist among individuals from all types of religions, in terms of life choices, rather than within a particular religion. My hypothesis is not my major concern, but rather I’m mostly interested in taking a spiritual pulse of our campus. Next step: research the exact proportion of our student body that fits my criteria. Let me know if you have any comments on my hypothesis or how I will choose my sample (particularly if you have another dimension you think I should consider in stratifying my sample).
7 comments:
I may just be reading it wrong,but I'm confused by your hypothesis.
I'm reading. Interesting.
I'm not for sure I said it right, but I think your average college student has more in common with someone of another religion in terms of how they make major life choices (i.e. college major, dating relationships,career path, studying habits, etc.) than they do with people within their own religion. Thus, religious beliefs and attitudes don't play a major role in determining major life choices even thought they may be perceived to do so. Makes sense? It's still jumbled up in my mind too.
I seriously doubt they have "more" in common with people of other religions. That's different than saying religion has no real impact.
Thanks for the update on your original project idea. Have you figured out what to include in the survey yet? If you post what you have so far, the blog-reading mob might be able to add some good ideas to it.
In case you were keeping track, the word verification I had to type for this post was xooidsb. Well, at least I think that's the case. I won't know until this post is successfully submitted, of course.
That hypothesis makes sense... I can't see how religion would affect most of those choices. What would interest me is to see the relation between the religiosity of the students and their parents, and how that affects the student's choices - are they more or less likely to live according to what their parents want of them if they share the same religion?
well i think their is a difference within because of differing commitment levels within each religion namely, those more committed and less committed...we'll see what the data says oh and Melissa that's a great question to ask and Charlie I will conduct a focus group of leaders to help me develop questions.
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