[Survey] What do you believe in?

[Politesse]

I have a lot of pity for survey-writers in religion, having taken that particular plunge myself. It's not just that your language must be neutral, it must also be comprehensible; it can seem quite impossible to achieve both goals at once, since most people naturally rely heavily on their own religious structures in thinking and talking about their religious life.

Some feedback:
In English, it is best to avoid asking negative questions such as "I generally don’t depend on my feelings to help me make decisions."; it tends to cause confusion, since this is an unusual construction; if the survey were a conversation, the most grammatically correct response to a negative proposition is "me neither", not "I strongly agree". "I generally depend on my feelings to help me make decisions" gets you the same information with less confusion.

 

[leibowde84]

I have a lot of pity for survey-writers in religion, having taken that particular plunge myself. It's not just that your language must be neutral, it must also be comprehensible; it can seem quite impossible to achieve both goals at once, since most people naturally rely heavily on their own religious structures in thinking and talking about their religious life.

Very true.

 

[Nurion]

Some feedback:
In English, it is best to avoid asking negative questions such as "I generally don’t depend on my feelings to help me make decisions."; it tends to cause confusion, since this is an unusual construction; if the survey were a conversation, the most grammatically correct response to a negative proposition is "me neither", not "I strongly agree". "I generally depend on my feelings to help me make decisions" gets you the same information with less confusion.

Although true, if every option were positive, your results would be skewed, since people generally have a tendency to agree with what your saying. Therefore, if you would not put in a couple of items that ask a negative question, your results would be biased.
I know that makes it odd to answer some items, but that's just how it works.

 

[Quintessence]

Yeah well, I knew that this was going to be the case, unfortunately since this is a bachelor's thesis I have to build on existing literature, so the wording is inappropriate to adress people of all beliefs in some regards.

I figured that you were using a metric designed by previous scholars. I'd be interested in seeing a citation for that so I can look it up.

On the whole, it was pretty darned professional for bachelor's level. Kudos! If I had to bet, I'd wager you're an honors student of some flavor... or if you're not, you probably should be.

 

[Politesse]

On the whole, it was pretty darned professional for bachelor's level. Kudos! If I had to bet, I'd wager you're an honors student of some flavor... or if you're not, you probably should be.

Agree.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I figured that you were using a metric designed by previous scholars. I'd be interested in seeing a citation for that so I can look it up.

On the whole, it was pretty darned professional for bachelor's level. Kudos! If I had to bet, I'd wager you're an honors student of some flavor... or if you're not, you probably should be.

I'd also like to see that. You can always blame the earlier studies for the problems of question grammar, etc., since to be comparable you have to use their wording.

 

[Nurion]

I'd also like to see that. You can always blame the earlier studies for the problems of question grammar, etc., since to be comparable you have to use their wording.

Which is exactly what I'm planning to do in the discussion part of my thesis.

 

[Skwim]

I scored a 98

 

[Nurion]

Do you believe that it will be possible someday to research supernatural phenomena scientifically, or will religion and the paranormal be forever shrouded in mystery?

 

[Nurion]

Is this a multiple choice survey?

Sorry, I only saw your post today. It's a survey that gives you 5 choices to answer from, going from not true or i do not agree to true or i completely agree for most of the survey. But if your question is whether you have to write an answer somewhere, then the answer is no.

 

[Nurion]

Sorry I've been quiet recently. I've been busy writing. But I'll be looking to be back more for discussions once I finished on the thesis.
I'm halfway done writing now, and I'll start calculating probably in a couple of days, and be able to present results in maybe 2 weeks.
Preliminary analysis showed that I have a heavy skew toward sceptics, so I'm in need of some more of you helpful RF people. If any of you could be interested in taking part in the study, that'd be awesome.
Thanks a lot!

 

[ThirtyThree]

I took the survay and here are my answers regarding the conspiracy theories. I do not believe in such nonsense.


Furthermore, when I consider conspiracy theories, this comes to mind:

 

[Riverwolf]

Took it today, and feel @Quintessence and @beenherebeforeagain's frustrations. I left some feedback, which I definitely hope will help you better interpret some of my responses.

 

[Nurion]

Took it today, and feel @Quintessence and @beenherebeforeagain's frustrations. I left some feedback, which I definitely hope will help you better interpret some of my responses.

I can relate to that. If it had been up to me, I'd have posed some questions differently, especially in the religious orientation section. But I had to use preexisting scales as the foundation of this study.
Maybe I can bring your thoughts and those of the others in on a future survey.

 

[Nurion]

I took the survay and here are my answers regarding the conspiracy theories. I do not believe in such nonsense.

I had a good long laugh at that video.
Thanks for participating. I do have to tell you that though not every conspiracy theory is pure nonsense. Sure, some are pretty far out there, others such as the Watergate scandal turned out to be real.

 

[Valjean]

People conspire. It's what we do. It's what distinguishes us from the rest of the animal world.
Conspiracy is just a synonym for "plan."

 

[Nurion]

People conspire. It's what we do. It's what distinguishes us from the rest of the animal world.
Conspiracy is just a synonym for "plan."

Sure, but conspiracy theories are different, since they assume a malevolent secret agency is influencing the world on a grand scale. If you simply say people conspire, then bankrobbers are doing conspiracies all the time by trying to make a plan to rob a bank.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Sure, but conspiracy theories are different, since they assume a malevolent secret agency is influencing the world on a grand scale. If you simply say people conspire, then bankrobbers are doing conspiracies all the time by trying to make a plan to rob a bank.

In fact, people who commit premeditated crimes (such as bank robberies) are often charged with conspiracy.

 

[Nurion]

True, but these conspiracies do not require any form of belief to be true.

"Me and a few friends conspire to surprise my girlfriend on her birthday."
"Bankrobbers conspired to rob a bank."
are starkly different from
"Chemtrails are employed to control people".
"Alien abductions happen but are kept a secret.

Don't you think?

 

[Valjean]

Republican leaders conspire in the caucus room to undermine US Government.

That one's real.