Study title

Diaconia Barometer 2018

Dataset ID Number

FSD3461

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3461
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3461

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Chruch Council. Diaconia and Society
• Diaconal Workers' Association
• Finnish Association for Research on Diaconia
• Diaconia University of Applied Sciences

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Isomäki, Päivi (Diaconia University of Applied Sciences)
• Lehmusmies, Johanna (Diaconia University of Applied Sciences)
• Salojärvi, Päivi (Diaconia University of Applied Sciences)
• Wallenius, Veera (Diaconia University of Applied Sciences)

Abstract

Diaconia Barometers chart Finnish diaconal workers' experiences of their work and views of current topics in diaconia. The topics of the 2018 survey included the communications and engagement of diaconal work, everyday diaconal work and its challenges, and the Christian orientation of diaconal workers. The survey was funded by the Church Research Institute.

The respondents were first asked questions about diaconal communications. These charted who was responsible for communications in the parish, what kind of channels were used in communications, whether the parish had a communications plan, and how the parish engaged with different people and organisations in terms of diaconal work. The effect of digitalisation on diaconal work was surveyed with questions about the use of different digital tools.

A number of questions concerning everyday diaconal work were asked including, for example, what kind of people the respondents encountered in their work (e.g. persons who have to resort to food aid continuously, elderly people with memory loss, undocumented immigrants), how much time they spent on different tasks and what proportion of their tasks they regarded as diaconal work. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to diaconal work in a changing society and church. Another set of questions charted things that increased workload, support received from various resources and satisfaction with supervision. The respondents were also asked who was responsible for different tasks in their parish. The number of applicants to vacancies in diaconal work in the parish in 2017 were charted as well as the number of vacancies at the time of the survey.

The Christian orientation of the respondents and their work community was surveyed by asking whether they believed in the triune God, in which Christian practices they participated (e.g. prayer, worship service, Eucharist), how Christianity was visible in their work and at the workplace (e.g. offering to pray for or with a client, reading the Bible with a client, values of the work community aligned with personal values).

Background variables included the number of inhabitants in the municipality of the respondent's workplace, the respondent's age, educational background, gender, work experience in the field, and diocese.

Keywords

christianity; church; communication; religious behaviour; religious communities; religious personnel; social work; working conditions; workloads

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Humanities (Fields of Science Classification)
• Equality, inequality and social exclusion (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Working conditions (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Religion and values (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Diaconia Barometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Chruch Council. Diaconia and Society
• Diaconal Workers' Association
• Finnish Association for Research on Diaconia
• Diaconia University of Applied Sciences

Time Period Covered

2017 – 2018

Collection Dates

2018-01-08 – 2018-02-04

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Diaconal workers of parishes in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The survey was sent to 1,164 diaconal workers via the mailing registry of the Church Council. The list was the most comprehensive available, but it also contained people who were not in a diaconal position at the time and not all diaconal workers received the link. The link was also distributed on the social media channels of the organisations conducting the survey, in the electronic newsletters of the Association of Diaconal Workers and through the researchers' personal contacts. Two reminders were sent via email and on the social media channels. After removing one duplicate, there were 390 respondents.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

30

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

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

All open-ended responses to "other, which?" questions and some of the other open-ended responses (q9_16_1, q11_5_1, q12_8_1, q13_12_1, q14_8_1, q15) were removed from the data for privacy reasons. Deletions made by FSD are marked with square brackets. In addition, the variables charting the number of inhabitants in the town/municipality where the respondents worked (q2), the number of filled diaconal positions (q3), education (q6), the number of applicants to positions (q36) and open positions (q37, q37_1 ja q37_2) were categorised. The age variable (q4) was categorised into ten-year groupings.

The data deposited at FSD were missing question 20 in the questionnaire. Out of the 391 responses, one duplicate response was removed at FSD.

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

Chruch Council & Diaconal Workers' Association & Finnish Association for Research on Diaconia & Diaconia University of Applied Sciences: Diaconia Barometer 2018 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2021-05-17). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3461; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3461

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.

Other Material

See downloadable files at the top of the page.

More information on the Diaconia Barometer on the website of the Evangeligal Lutheran Church of Finland (in Finnish).

The site contains information on the research project and the latest reports on the surveys.

Related Materials

Isomäki, Päivi & Lehmusmies, Johanna & Salojärvi, Päivi & Wallenius, Veera (2018). Diakoniabarometri 2018. Yksinäisyyden monet kasvot. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 56. Tampere: Kirkon tutkimuskeskus.

Related Publications

Isomäki, Päivi & Lehmusmies, Johanna & Salojärvi, Päivi & Wallenius, Veera (2018). Diakoniabarometri 2018. Yksinäisyyden monet kasvot. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 56. Tampere: Kirkon tutkimuskeskus.

Isomäki, Päivi & Lehmusmies, Johanna & Salojärvi, Päivi & Wallenius, Veera (2018). The many faces of loneliness. Findings in brief by Päivi Isomäki, Johanna Lehmusmies, Päivi Salojärvi & Veera Wallenius. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 57. Tampere: Church Research Institute.