U.S. Congregational Life Survey, 2001, Presbyterian Profile

DOI

10.17605/OSF.IO/3EUBP

Citation

Woolever, C., Wulff, K., Bruce, D., & Smith-Williams, I. (2021, May 11). U.S. Congregational Life Survey, 2001, Presbyterian Profile.

Summary

"Over 300,000 worshipers in over 2,000 congregations across America participated in the U.S. Congregational Life Survey--making it the largest survey of worshipers in America ever conducted. Three types of surveys were completed in each participating congregation: (a) an attendee survey completed by all worshipers age 15 and older who attended worship services during the weekend of April 29, 2001; (b) a Congregational Profile describing the congregation's facilities, staff, programs, and worship services completed by one person in the congregation; and (c) a Leader Survey completed by the pastor, priest, minister, rabbi, or other leader. Together the information collected provides a unique three-dimensional look at religious life in America." (From Appendix 1, A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations: Who's Going Where and Why. U.S. Congregational Life Survey Methodology.) Three different groups of Presbyterian Congregations were sampled: Presbyterian, Racial Ethnic/Multicultural Presbyterian, and Fast Growing Presbyterian. The Presbyterian Profile contains data from the Congregational Profile for PC(USA) random sample congregations. The Congregational Life Survey also has a Leader survey of PC(USA) leaders and an Attender survey of all PC(USA) worshipers."

The ARDA has added two additional variables to the original data set to enhance the users' experience on our site.

Data File

Cases: 807
Variables: 284
Weight Variable: None

Data Collection

April 29, 2001 for Presbyterian and Racial Ethnic/Multicultural Presbyterian Samples. April and May 2002 for Fast- Growing Presbyterian Sample.

Original Survey (Instrument)

USCLS Congregational Profile

Funded By

The Lilly Endowment, Inc.
The Louisville Institute
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Collection Procedures

Self-administered surveys

Sampling Procedures

"The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago identified a random sample of U.S. congregations attended by individuals who participated in the General Social Survey (GSS) in the year 2000. All GSS participants who reported that they attended worship at least once in the prior year were asked to name the place where they worshiped. Since the GSS involves a national random sample of individuals, congregations identified by GSS participants comprise a national random sample of congregations. NORC researchers verified that each nominated congregation was an actual congregation and then invited each congregation to participate in the project."

"Denominations were also invited and encouraged to draw a random sample of their congregations. Denominational samples were large enough so that the results are representative of worshipers and congregations in each denomination. This allows denominations to compare their typical congregation and worshiper to congregations and worshipers in other denominations. Denominations participating in this oversampling procedure were: Church of the Nazarene, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Roman Catholic Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church (UMC), and United Church of Christ (UCC)." (From Appendix 1, A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations: Who's Going Where and Why. U.S. Congregational Life Survey Methodology.)

Three Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) oversamples participated in the survey. The first is the random sample. This sample was selected randomly from within sub strata based on size, region, and race-ethnicity of members. The second is the Racial Ethnic/Multicultural PC(USA) sample. This sample comprises three groups: (1) all predominantly racial-ethnic congregations (at least half of their members are from racial-ethnic minority groups), (2) all multi-cultural congregations (at least 20% of members are not white), (3) all congregations that reported in 1996 that they have an immigrant fellowship meeting in their facilities. Efforts were made to de-duplicate the Random and Ethnic samples. That is, congregations that appeared in both samples were invited only once. The third is the Fast-growing PC(USA) sample. The 400 fastest-growing congregations in the denomination were invited to participate. To identify these congregations, the percentage change in average worship attendance over the previous five-year period was examined. Congregations with missing or inaccurate data were excluded.

The response rate for the Presbyterian Church (USA) random profile sample was 94.63%. The response rate for PC(USA) Racial Ethnic/Multicultural sample was 78.72%. Finally, the response rate for Fast Growing Presbyterians was 89.42%

The Presbyterian Church (USA) profile data can be linked to the Presbyterian (USA) Attender and Leader data by the CONGREGA variable.

Note: The CONGREGA variable in the Profile and the Attender surveys is the same variable as the ID variable in the Leader survey.

Principal Investigators

Cynthia Woolever, Professor of Sociology of Religious Organizations, Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Hartford Seminary, co-principal investigator

Keith Wulff, Coordinator of Research Services, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), co-principal investigator

Deborah Bruce, Associate Research Manager, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), project manager

Ida Smith-Williams, Associate for Information, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), data management specialist

Related Publications

A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations: Who's Going Where and Why. 2002. Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce, Westminster John Knox Press.

Beyond the Ordinary: 10 Strengths of U.S. Congregations. 2004. Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

Notes

Variables ID and CONGRA start with numbers that reflect what sample the data is drawn from. Cases starting with E are Racial-Ethnic PC(USA), F are FastGrowing PC(USA), and P are PC(USA).


TIME1, TIME2, TIME3, TIME4, TIME5 represent times in 4 digits, on a 24-hour clock. So most morning services will stay as they are. Twelve was added to evening services to make them on the 24-hour clock. Examples: 8am would be 800, 8:30am would stay as 830, 7pm would be 1900, and noon would be 1200.