Beneath the Surface: A Critique of the Common Survey Model in the Study of Nonreligion
When measuring nonreligiosity, a common approach is to ask about the participants’ religious or nonreligious affiliation and belief in God. In this critical commentary, this type of methodological approach - referred as the “survey model” - is first placed in its historical context. The article sugg...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[publisher not identified]
[2020]
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| In: |
Secularism and Nonreligion
Year: 2020, Volume: 9, Pages: 1-9 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Irreligiosity
/ Atheism
/ Interrogation
/ Investigation method
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| IxTheo Classification: | AA Study of religion AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AD Sociology of religion; religious policy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | When measuring nonreligiosity, a common approach is to ask about the participants’ religious or nonreligious affiliation and belief in God. In this critical commentary, this type of methodological approach - referred as the “survey model” - is first placed in its historical context. The article suggests that understanding the historical context and cultural function of the survey model illuminates various theoretical and methodological limitations that have been previously recognized in multiple areas of research from the study of religion and sociology to survey methodology and cognitive sciences. Based on this interdisciplinary review, it is noted that, if relying on the survey model in either qualitative or quantitative research, the studies are likely to sustain the cultural categories of “religion” and “nonreligion” that, paradoxically, are implicitly defined by the survey model, and remain at the level of reputation management. To overcome these limitations and allowing researchers to assess cultural and cognitive aspects of the forming and construing of a human phenomenon like nonreligiosity, the article emphasizes the importance of multimethodology along with an interdisciplinary theoretical framework. |
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| ISSN: | 2053-6712 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Secularism and Nonreligion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5334/snr.106 |