Study title

Parish Image and Knowledge Survey 2018

Dataset ID Number

FSD3350

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3350

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Ketola, Kimmo (Church Research Institute)
• Kallioinen, Sami (Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Parishes)

Abstract

The survey charted Finnish perceptions of the image and services of parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The study was funded by the individual parishes or parish unions in the studied regions and by the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church so that all parties funded 1/13 of the study, except for the Helsinki Parish Union which funded twice the amount.

First, the respondents were asked to describe a specific parish, which was determined by their municipality of residence, with one adjective. The general impression the respondents had of the parish (positive, neutral or negative) was surveyed, and the respondents were also presented with word pairs and asked which alternative they thought described the parish best (e.g. from very liberal to very conservative and very close to very distant). Next, the significance of various parish services for the respondents was examined, for example, whether it was important to them that the parish takes care of the disadvantaged, supports in the crises of life, organises activities for children and youth, and communicates actively. The respondents were also asked to evaluate how well the parish had succeeded in the same matters.

Next, the respondents were asked what they thought were the most important matters the parish should focus on in organising activities. The channels and situations through which the respondents had come across the parish, for example, on traditional or social media, in concerts, or through receiving help from the parish, were also charted. The respondents were then asked how often they participated in activities organised by the parish (e.g. weekly, monthly, never). The respondents' religiosity and religious behaviour were examined with questions regarding how often they prayed, whether they were a godparent, and how they perceived being a godparent (e.g. whether they associated the concept of 'duty of honour' or 'gift giver' with the role of a godparent).

Finally, the sources of the respondents' information on the parish, such as the local parish newspaper, national media (radio, TV, newspapers), social media, or friends and acquaintances, were surveyed. If the participants were familiar with the local parish newspaper, they were asked how often they read the newspaper and how interesting they thought various themes of the newspaper were (e.g. local topics and events, international and multicultural topics, well-being and health, or topics relating to the Christian message). Additionally, some region-specific questions were presented based on the respondents' municipality of residence, focusing on, for example, whether they listened to the Christmas Radio (Jouluradio) and what their relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church was.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's age group, gender, municipality of residence, economic activity and occupational status, and church and parish membership.

Keywords

beliefs; church; religiosity; religious attendance; religious behaviour

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science 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

• Norstat Finland

Time Period Covered

2018

Collection Dates

2018-07-31 – 2018-10-11

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland, Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere, Turku, Vantaa, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Pori, Seinäjoki, Hämeenlinna, Rovaniemi, Salo

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Finnish population aged over 18 years residing in 12 municipalities or parish union areas (Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere, Turku, Vantaa, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Pori, Seinäjoki, Hämeenlinna, Rovaniemi, Salo) (excluding )

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Simple random

The sample was randomly drawn from the Finnish Asiakastieto phone number database. The aim was to include 500 respondents from all other municipalities and 1,000 respondents from Helsinki. The final sample size was 6,501 respondents.

Collection Mode

Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

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

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3586 Parish Image and Knowledge Survey 2021

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Region-specific questions were named according to the response options in variable q3 denoting municipality of residence (e.g. question group A23 is for those participants who resided in Pori). The data contain response options formed by the researcher that were not included in the original questionnaire.

To prevent identification of participants, all open-ended responses of the type "Other, please specify" were removed from the data. Additionally, variable q3b denoting municipality of residence other than the response options in variable q3, q18 denoting events that the respondent wished a parish would organise, q19 containing feedback/wishes for a parish, C23d denoting the respondent's role in the Seinäjoki parish, and open-ended responses detailing the persons who the respondent thought of or knew in connection to a parish, were removed. All open-ended responses left in the data were reviewed and responses containing identifiable information were replaced with the text (Open-ended response removed because it contained identifiable information).

Weighting

The data contain four different weight variables that weight the data according to distributions of age, gender, region of residence and membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The first weight variable [weight] weights the data to be representative of Finland's population not including the population's membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The second weight variable [weight2] weights the data to be representative of specific regions (the regions included in this study) not including membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The third weight variable [weight3] weights the data to be representative of specific regions including membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The fourth and final weight variable [weight4] weights the data to be representative of Finland's population including membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

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

Ketola, Kimmo (Church Research Institute) & Kallioinen, Sami (Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Parishes): Parish Image and Knowledge Survey 2018 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2020-08-25). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3350

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

Kirkon tutkimuskeskus (2021) Seurakuntien tunnettuuskysely 2021. Raportti. Kirkon tutkimuskeskus.