Study title

Attitudes of Finnish Clergy and Church Musicians 2006

Dataset ID Number

FSD2832

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2832
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2832

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Church Research Institute
• Union of Church Professionals (AKI)

Abstract

The survey conducted by the Union of Church Professionals (AKI) and focused on member views on union activities, church administration, ethical issues and working conditions. AKI members work as clergy or church musicians in Finland, and the union consists of the Union of Finnish Clergy and the Finnish Association of Church Organists.

The respondents were asked how well acquainted they were with AKI, where they had learned about the union, and what their image of the Finnish Association of Church Organists or the Union of Finnish Clergy was. Satisfaction with the union and preferred goals for union activities were also surveyed.

Views on church administration were charted with a number of statements relating to, for instance, parish mergers, new pay model, career advancement and church organisation. Other questions covered gender equality in the working place, whether men or women were more suited to be clergymen or church musicians, attitudes towards the ordination of women, and cooperation with female ministers. Questions on ethical issues explored opinions on infertility treatment, church blessing on same-sex couples (registered partnerships of same-sex couples), and whether clergy, church musicians or youth, office or maintenance workers of the church could live together with a same-sex partner or otherwise be openly homosexual.

Other themes pertained to work orientation, motivation and working conditions. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of a number of activities conducted by parishes. The activities mentioned included, for instance, helping people, reading and teaching the Bible, worship services, missionary work, promoting the rights of minorities, promoting justice and equality. They were also asked what work meant to them (way of earning a living, a source of satisfaction, vocation etc). Satisfaction with the job and pay were charted as well as what kind of spiritual support they wanted from the church. Other questions focused on additional jobs, hours of work for certain tasks, days off, amount of work, autonomy at work, work-life balance, stress and exhaustion symptoms, personal faith, praying and Bible reading.

Background variables included the respondent's year of birth (categorised), gender, marital status, year of ordination (categorised) or year of graduating as church musician (categorised), job title and status, main duties, number of years working for the parish, type of contract, periods of unemployment, supervisory status, type and size of the municipality, diocese, and spiritual background.

Keywords

church; civil partnerships; equality between the sexes; homosexuality; ministers of religion; ordination of women; religious personnel; religious personnel; trade unions; working conditions; workloads

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Equality, inequality and social exclusion (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Working conditions (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Gender and gender roles (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Religion and values (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Church Research Institute

Data Producers

• Union of Church Professionals
• Church Research Institute

Time Period Covered

2006

Collection Dates

2006-01 – 2006-02

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Employed members of the Finnish Association of Church Organists and the Union of Finnish Clergy

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The survey was posted to all members of the the Finnish Association of Church Organists and the Union of Finnish Clergy and was carried out in connection with the council elections of the Union of Church Professionals (AKI). The number of respondents was 1,076, constituting 34% of the employed members of the union.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

34

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

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

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

3.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of respondents, the following measures were taken during the archiving process: the variables 'year of birth' (k41), 'year of ordination as pastor' (k44_1) and 'year of graduating as church organist/cantor' (k44_2) were categorised; in the 'job title' variable (k46_1), the alternative 'church lector' was recoded into the alternative 'other parish position' (value 7); open-ended responses of the type "other, please specify" were removed from the question groups k2, k46, k47, and k48.

Open-ended question 31 is missing from the data (not described in the abstract).

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

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

Church Research Institute & Union of Church Professionals (AKI): Attitudes of Finnish Clergy and Church Musicians 2006 [dataset]. Version 3.0 (2019-01-15). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2832

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

Niemelä, Kati & Palmu, Harri (2006). Papisto ja kanttorit 2006. Akavan kirkollisten ammattiliittojen jäsenkyselyn raportti. Tampere: Kirkon tutkimuskeskus. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen www-julkaisuja 11. urn:isbn: 951-693-275-4