Study title

Church Resignation Forms Filed in Finland 2007-2016

Dataset ID Number

FSD3206

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3206
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3206

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Vakaumusten tasa-arvo VATA ry
• Union of Freethinkers of Finland

Abstract

The data contain information about persons who have resigned from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland or the Finnish Orthodox Church via web service Eroakirkosta.fi in 2007-2016. Variables included in the data are date of resignation, type of resignation announcement (e-mail, paper form, direct announcement via web form), municipality of residence, gender, age at the time of resignation (categorised), church, and language.

Keywords

christianity; church; church and state; religious affiliation; religious behaviour; religious freedom; religious institutions

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social change (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Religion and values (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• Vakaumusten tasa-arvo VATA ry

Time Period Covered

2007 – 2016

Collection Dates

2007-01-01 – 2016-12-31

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Persons resigned from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland or the Finnish Orthodox Church in 2007-2016

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The data include all resignations made via the Eroakirkosta.fi web service in 2007-2016.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Programming script

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 and English.

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

Number of Cases and Variables

10 variables and 553850 cases.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3236 Church Resignation Forms Filed in Finland: Reasons for Resigning 2010-2017

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Resignation practices vary between Local Register Offices (maistraatit) and depending on time of resignation. Persons who are of age (18) have three different options for resignation with the help of the Eroakirkosta.fi service (see variable q2):

1 'E-mail': The Local Register Office did not accept a resignation announcement that was sent via the web form, but accepted a resignation announcement sent via e-mail by the resignee. The resignee used an e-mail template available via Eroakirkosta.fi. In practice, some resignees do not do this right away, but send the resignation announcement at a later time.

2 'Paper form': The Local Register Office did not accept electronic resignation at all. For these cases, the Eroakirkosta.fi service has a paper form that the resignee can print out, fill, and deliver to the Local Register Office.

3 'Direct announcement via web form': The Local Register Office accepted the resignation announcement directly via Eroakirkosta.fi's web form.

Persons under the age of 18 cannot resign from church electronically; they can only resign via the paper form and need approval from their parents.

In the age variable, persons who are 18 years of age were categorised in their own category because they constitute a significant share of resignees (6.6%). In some analyses (e.g. analysis of spikes in resignation announcements), there might be reason to exclude these cases. Most of the time, the reason for their resignation is that once they turn 18 years old, they are able to resign on their own.

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

Vakaumusten tasa-arvo VATA ry & Union of Freethinkers of Finland: Church Resignation Forms Filed in Finland 2007-2016 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2018-04-12). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3206; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3206

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.

FSD has not been informed of any publications related to the data.