Poll - Who Are We (Part 1 Of 2)

[Overcame Faith]

This is part 1 of 2 of one of the polls that I posted about a day or two ago. This is part of a larger project to try to determine what our collective experience is with deconversion. I believe that collecting this data and then reviewing and analyzing it will yield some real fruit for each of us and for those who are currently going through a deconversion experience.

 

Remember, this poll is only for ExChristians and not for current Christians.

 

Please note the age question. The age bracket 31 to 35 is at the bottom of the list.

 

Please complete part 2 of this poll also. It is located here:

 

http://www.ex-christian.net/index.php?/topic/42563-who-are-we-part-2-of-2/

[Vomit Comet]

You missed an age bracket: 31-35.

[Overcame Faith]

You missed an age bracket: 31-35.

 

Many thanks for catching that. I have added the age bracket, but it is at the end. I didn't want to do anything that would mess up the results already in.

[oddbird1963]

Overcame faith,

 

I don't want to complicate matters, but I'm in the middle of a divorce. I WAS married for 23 years and my spouse is a Christian and was one all that time. I really didn't see a response for me in there.

 

Just a thing to note for future reference.

[Overcame Faith]

Overcame faith,

 

I don't want to complicate matters, but I'm in the middle of a divorce. I WAS married for 23 years and my spouse is a Christian and was one all that time. I really didn't see a response for me in there.

 

Just a thing to note for future reference.

 

I appreciate the feedback, oddbird. There are more polls to come as I hope to make this fairly comprehensive. This particular poll seeks to find out where we stand now (unless otherwise noted). So you should look at your current status. If you are currently married, then answer accordingly. If you are currently divorced and have not remarried (or otherwise taken a life partner), then you would respond that you do not have a life partner.

 

The polls to come will look into the past in more detail, including divorces and the causes thereof (with particular interest to the role that deconverting played in ending life partner relationships).

[par4dcourse]

There's no "older than dirt" category for Florduh.

[ClaraOlive]

I'm 28, have been in a relationship for three years and am childfree by choice.

 

I'm not exactly sure when my partner stopped identifying as a Christian and started identifying as an agnostic theistic Universalist. When I first met him, he was occasionally attending a small Presbyterian collegiate group, but when we started dating, he never showed any interest in anything Christian. Later, he said that his beliefs were closest to Unitarianism. He wasn't under pressure from family or friends, so to him it wasn't any big deal to change his mind.

 

I have a Master's degree, never had formal religious education, but took both Latin and ancient Greek. I've done some Biblical translation in both, but they were secular classes.

[Vomit Comet]

Survey Monkey

 

Hey OvercameFaith, check out Survey Monkey. It's much more useful for what you're trying to do than the limited poll software of the board.

 

Also, given the small "convenience" sample that is this board, you'd probably be better off asking open-ended or fill-in-the-blank questions. I are a social scientist, I even went to skool fer it.

[Overcame Faith]

Survey Monkey

 

Hey OvercameFaith, check out Survey Monkey. It's much more useful for what you're trying to do than the limited poll software of the board.

 

Also, given the small "convenience" sample that is this board, you'd probably be better off asking open-ended or fill-in-the-blank questions. I are a social scientist, I even went to skool fer it.

 

Survey Monkey is very interesting, but I really don't have the funds to pay for something like that though such a project like this is very worthy of indepth study in my opinion. And actually, the small "convenience" sample makes this project do-able with the software and resources available here, I think (and hope).

 

I think the biggest drawback with working this way is that it's sort of hit and miss on getting everyone's attention to participate, especially with having to limit each survey to ten questions, making it necessary to do a single topic in multiple surveys and trying to give proper instructions and the like. Still, this could be cured, I believe, using the resources available here. Perhaps if there could be a forum set up solely for this purpose and maybe some sort of general announcement encouraging our members to participate. Then there could be a much better give and take between me and the members and we could really get to see what is going on with this very interesting phenomenon of being an ExChristian and, most importantly, be able to help people understand what they are going through and how better to cope with it.

 

I am working on other surveys dealing with the real nitty gritty issues like what kind of fears we had, how our families reacted to our deconversions, how friends reacted, what happened to our social networks once we deconverted, what led to our deconversions, what we think of ourselves at various stages of our deconversion and afterwards, etc. It can be some really interesting and helpful stuff so long as all of us are willing to go back and give some indepth thought to our individual experiences which will be called for if this is to be successful and helpful to ourselves and others.

 

I am willing and able to give a reasonable, part-time dedication of myself to completing this project and preparing written reports, observations, and comments and then opening all of that up for each member to give their own feedback as well. Honestly, I don't think anything like this has ever been done with the demographic represented on this board, and it is such an important issue for the deconverting. I can't help but be so empathetic to those who come here in tears with their suffering and just want to reach out and help them and, in so doing, help myself and others in the same situation.

[Overcame Faith]

I have a Master's degree, never had formal religious education, but took both Latin and ancient Greek. I've done some Biblical translation in both, but they were secular classes.

 

The poll question about biblical languages was not intended to reflect on one's religious education. Therefore, you could have correctly said you had no formal classroom education on religion but you do have the specified skill level and proficiency in one of the Biblical languages.

 

By the way, your linguistic skills are impressive.

[dichotomy]

I'm 28, I've been married for 10 years. We were both xians when we got married neither of us are now - he *fell* first, me a year or so later

I'm in the middle of a Masters degree in Anthropological research. I've done a couple of little *bible courses* one of which was accredited and was pretty interesting actually. I didn't do theology in my undergrad degree but a number of the modules covered the history of christianity which was fascinating. I've not done any languages other than french in high school.....

[HRDWarrior]

I'm working on my Master's (officially a Master's Candidate, thesis is in progress) so I voted Master's, although I haven't earned the degree - yet. Have been married for just over 6 years (or is it 7...shit, I'm losing count already!). We were both Christian when we met, I was the fundy, he was pretty liberal, he got drug into my camp for awhile, then I deconverted, and now he's a deist.

 

No kids, don't want 'em, never have.

[florduh]

There's no "older than dirt" category for Florduh.

Kids these days. They ain't got no respect.

[★ Citsonga ★]

I don't have any formal religious training apart from church, but I studied the bible a lot independently and was even told once by an ordained minister with a seminary degree that I knew more about the bible than he did.

[Vomit Comet]

And actually, the small "convenience" sample makes this project do-able with the software and resources available here, I think (and hope).

 

Not if you're trying to do even just basic correlations/cross-tabs. If you're trying to generate serious, usable data about the membership here, that's not the way to do it.

 

I think the biggest drawback with working this way is that it's sort of hit and miss on getting everyone's attention to participate,

 

All survey research has that problem, even if you've got a $20,000 grant and a squad of phone jockeys.

 

Here's your best bet: come up with a big well-designed survey that covers everything all in one fell swoop (I can help, if you like) and maybe see if Dave will make a big announcement or something. Just remember: the only generalizations you'll be able to make are with members of this board. For every one person on this board there's hundreds of others out there who have zero clue it exists. Given that you've got such a small convenience sample, you really would be better off asking open-ended questions after collecting background data (control questions about demographics, number of years spent in the fold, which denomination, etc.) on each respondent.

 

especially with having to limit each survey to ten questions, making it necessary to do a single topic in multiple surveys and trying to give proper instructions and the like.

 

You'd be a lot better off making a Word document that people can download, type their answers onto, and then send back to you. Although if it's all going to be nice and public you could just copy/paste the entire questionnaire onto a new thread. What would be best is if you conduct interviews verbally via Skype. But the next best thing would be to do it via a downloadable Word document.

 

If you want my help I'm willing to lend it.

[Overcame Faith]

If you want my help I'm willing to lend it.

 

Okay, let's really get to the bottom of this thing in a way that can make a difference. I would like your help. Let's design something and do it all in one fell swoop rather than this piecemeal effort. Since you're a social scientist, obviously, your input would be invaluable. I am a lawyer with an undergraduate degree in political science so I am at least familiar with the general principles involved, though obviously I don't have a working knowledge as you do.

 

I have been working on a larger set of questions, though they are not open-ended as you have suggested. I think I know the general direction of how things should be set up but you may have other thoughts.

 

Would you like me to get to you what I have done so far along with my thoughts?

[Vomit Comet]

Would you like me to get to you what I have done so far along with my thoughts?

 

Sure! Post what you got and we'll go over it bit by bit.

[Overcame Faith]

Would you like me to get to you what I have done so far along with my thoughts?

 

Sure! Post what you got and we'll go over it bit by bit.

 

I've got a new poll up asking if people would be willing to do an indepth questionnaire and there seems to be some willingness for this. Therefore, I am working on what I will try to make an open ended questionnaire on Word. I would like to complete that as well as I can and then get the Word document into your hands for review and comments if that would work out with you. This may take me a week or so (since I can only do this part-time). I'd rather not post the questionnaire since our friendly volunteers would see how the sausage is made, so to speak. I'm sure there is a way to get a Word document into your hands anonymously but without posting.

[Vomit Comet]

I've got a new poll up asking if people would be willing to do an indepth questionnaire and there seems to be some willingness for this. Therefore, I am working on what I will try to make an open ended questionnaire on Word. I would like to complete that as well as I can and then get the Word document into your hands for review and comments if that would work out with you. This may take me a week or so (since I can only do this part-time). I'd rather not post the questionnaire since our friendly volunteers would see how the sausage is made, so to speak. I'm sure there is a way to get a Word document into your hands anonymously but without posting.

 

PM me and I'll give you my e-mail.

 

I reckon if you get 20 to 30 respondents, you'll be golden. That's about typical for this kind of qualitative inquiry, and at this stage it would be the most appropriate approach. As opposed to statistical research, I mean.

 

It'd be hard as hell to get a statistically valid random sample of ex-Christians; you'd want several hundred, preferably over 1,000 respondents, and you'd have a hell of a time finding them. If you did a random-digit-dial survey (generally the most efficient method) of the United States, about 18% would qualify as atheists/agnostics. Add to that non-Asians who converted to Buddhism without having been raised in it, and Pagan/New Age types. I have no idea how many of those might qualify as "ex-Christian" but there might not be enough for RDD to be worthwhile. It'd be a pretty big gamble, in other words.

 

The other thing is, quantitative research is often shitty if it doesn't have preexisting qualitative research to inform it. Qualitative research is best suited towards exploratory research, which is essentially what you're doing. Aside from Marlene Winell's work (and she is first and foremost a clinician, IIRC), there is next to no academic literature about "religious disaffiliation" that in any way hits the nail on the head as far as we ex-Christians in here would be concerned. How do I know? I've pretty much reviewed all of it! (I can send you my literature review via e-mail at a later date.)

 

Now, one major caveat: I can only help you design the questionnaire, introduce you to the relevant literature, and give general advice on how to proceed. If I do any more than that I'd be in deep, deep shit with my superiors. I can't have my name appear on anything, either. So after I give a bit of token assistance, the show's all yours.