ISSP1991: Religion I
The start of 20 years of International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) surveys within New Zealand by Professor Philip Gendall, Department of Marketing, Massey University.
A verbose rundown on topics follows.
Attitudes towards religious behaviours. Topics: Personal estimation of happiness; assessment of responsibility of the state regarding job creation and income levelling; stronger punishment and the death penalty as measures to combat crime; attitude to pre-marital sexual intercourse and affairs; attitude to homosexuality and abortion; judgement on role distribution in marriage and attitude to working women; honesty in paying taxes and attitude to honesty of citizens with the state; trust in institutions such as the Federal Parliament, business, industry, authorities, churches, judiciary and schools.
Attitude to non-religious politicians and office-holders; influence on voters as well as government through church leaders; judgement on the power of churches and religious organisations; doubt or firm belief in God; perceived nearness to God; development of personal belief in God; belief in a life after death; belief in the devil, heaven, hell and miracles; conviction regarding the Bible; fatalism; the meaning of life and Christian interpretation of life; contact with the dead; religious ties at a turning point in life; religious affiliation of father, mother and spouse/partner; frequency of church attendance of father and of mother; personal direction of belief and frequency of church attendance in adolescence; frequency of prayer and participation in religious activities.
Self-classification of personal religiousness; attitude to school prayer; personal conscience, social rules or God’s laws as basis for deciding between right and wrong; attitudes to prohibition of religious criticism in literature and films; superstition; belief in lucky charms, fortune tellers, wonder doctors, signs of the zodiac and horoscopes; conversion of faith after crucial experience; idea of God; judgement on world and people as good or bad.
Living together with partner; type and temporal extent of vocational employment; private or public employer; professional independence and number of employees; superior function and span of control; number of colleagues; union membership; unemployment; party inclination and behaviour at the polls; self-classification on a left-right continuum; religious affiliation; religiousness; self-classification of social class affiliation; residential status; training and employment of spouse/partner as well as parents; size of household; household income. Also encoded were: region; rural or urban area; city size; ethnic identification.
