Questions regarding the CUNY National Survey of Religious Identification

The sociological & statistical value of the 1989/90 National Survey of Religious Identification conducted by the City U of New York is challenged. It is argued that the survey, which employed a sample of 113,000 US households, sustained blurred denominational & theological self-identificatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion 1992-03, Vol.31 (1), p.94-96
Main Authors: Ellwood, Robert S., Miller, Donald E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Baptists
Calvinism
Christianity
Church Membership
Comment
Graduate surveys
Islam
Methodological Problems
Muslims
New York
Religion
Research Methodology
School surveys
Self Evaluation
Surveys
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Summary:The sociological & statistical value of the 1989/90 National Survey of Religious Identification conducted by the City U of New York is challenged. It is argued that the survey, which employed a sample of 113,000 US households, sustained blurred denominational & theological self-identifications, & therefore yielded unacceptable figures. Also censured is the survey's lack of correction for geographical distribution, & lack of comparison with other available religious membership statistics that provide conflicting data. In Reply to Comments on the CUNY National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI), Barry A. Kosmin (Berman Instit City U of New York, NY) & Seymour P. Lachman state that the survey was designed as a study in subjective religious self-identification. Implications in the critique regarding the survey's bias toward non-Christian groups are refuted, & the survey's technical aspects clarified. I. Shagrir
ISSN:0021-8294
1468-5906
DOI:10.2307/1386835