Study On Religion Essay, Research Paper

Study on Religion

Mike Fehl Sociology-4 Mr. Winch January 6, 1997

Scientific Method

Isolating the Problem – Does religious involvement have any impact on how people

act? I wanted to find out if how involved a person was in their religion had

any effect on their moral standards, behavior, or grades in school. I felt that

their might be a pattern formed with involvement and the afore-mentioned

variables.

Forming a Hypothesis – My hypothesis going into this paper was: Those people

who are involve in their religion, on average, have higher moral standards,

better behavior, and do better in school than those who are not as involved in

their religion.

Building a Research Design – In conducting my research I used three sociological

research methods: survey method, statistical analysis, and the historical method.

This involved a questionnaire, the data from the questionnaire, and studies from

magazines and books.

Collecting the Data – I collected the data from my questionnaires as well as

found books that discussed the subject, and magazine articles on related topics.

Analyzing the Data – I compared and contrasted the data I received, whether from

my questionnaire or from the text. I tried to find similarities that either

proved or disproved my hypothesis.

Make Generalizations – After completing my studies, I found a connection between

religious involvement; and was able to generalize that those who are involved

act and behave better than those who aren’t involved.

Introduction

My purpose for writing this paper on this particular subject was because

I was curious to find out if there were any connections between religious

involvement and if it affected how people acted. I found some similarities

between those who felt that religious involvement affected behavior, and

similarities between those who didn’t. I also found similarities between those

who replied that they were highly involved in their religion, as well as some

similarities between those not as highly involved.

Research

I used three different methods to help me collect my data. The first

was the survey method. I developed a questionnaire that I felt would get me the

information I seeked. These surveys were distributed in Randolph high school

(to Mr. Winch’s classes), mostly to Seniors and Sophomores, as well as a few

from the Freshman and Junior classes. This gave me a good sample of the teenage

population in our area. The questionnaire had the following questions:

- 1. What is your religion?

- 2. How involved in your religion do you consider yourself?

(1-10 1 being the lowest 10 being the highest)

- 3. How would you rate your moral standards? 1-10

- 4. How would you rate your behavior? 1-10

- 5. What are your average grades?

- 6. Do you feel your religious involvement affects your behavior?

Through my questionnaire I found that the majority of the people who

felt that they had high religious involvement ( a 6 or better on the 1-10 scale)

felt that their religious involvement had an affect on their behavior, while the

majority of those that felt that they had low religious involvement ( a 5 or

lower) felt that their religious involvement had little or no impact on their

behavior. Also I found that a larger percent of those who answered that yes

their involvement had an impact on their behavior felt that they had high moral

standards, good behavior, and good grades ( a 7 or better for the two former and

B’s or better for the former) than those who felt that their involvement had no

impact on behavior.

A related study, conducted by Bill Moyer, showed that involvement and

influence of religion is increasing. In November of 1992 only 27% of Americans

said the influence of religion was increasing while 38% of Americans in a

December 1995 study said that the influence is increasing, an 11% leap in only a

matter of 26 months. It was also noted that ?. . . the historical role of

religion is molding personal identities, shaping social identity, generating

community and goals, transmitting values, sharpening critical moral sense,

challenging the status quo and questioning authority.? 2

Another past study showed similar results. This study noted ?Christian

teaching is intended to govern the soul.? They found that 1970 75% of American

people felt that religion didn’t influence them, but only 46% were of that

opinion in 1980. Their study was also able to show that those people who were

considered successful in life, doctors, businessmen, artists, etc., the majority

of them were involved in their religion as well as credited their success to the

influence of their religion and their involvement in that religion. 3

In research, I found my hypothesis to be proven true. Those people who

were involved in their religion, no matter what religion they were, were more

likely to have higher moral standards, rate their behavior higher, and do better

in school, as well as feel their involvement in their religion affected their

behavior. These studies suggest that if more people were involved in their

religion that there might be less behavioral problems in our school systems,

society would have higher morals, and more people would receive good grades. So

after doing these studies I feel that there is definitely a connection between

religion and how people act and behave; and I found that those who are involved

in religion, whatever religion it may be, act and behave better than those who

are not actively involved in religion. So while not all the evidence I found

while researching my topic was what I expected and some was inconclusive, the

overwhelming feeling I got while studying my research is that my hypothesis is

true.

Footnotes

1. My Questionnaire on religion from a sample of Randolph High School.

2. Moyer, Bill America’s Religious Mosaic, USA Weekend, Gannett Co.

Inc., October 11 -13, 1996, pages 4 – 5

3.Bender L., David, Leone, Bruno Religion in America , Greenhaven Press,

Inc., San Diego, CA 1989

Bibliography

Bender L., David, Leone, Bruno Religion in America , Greenhaven Press, Inc.,

San Diego, CA 1989

Colombo, Furio, God In America, New York: Columbia University Press, 1984

Marx, Herbert L. Jr., The Reference Shelf: Religions in America, The H.W.

Wilson Company, NY 1977

Moyer, Bill America’s Religious Mosaic, USA Weekend, Gannett Co. Inc., October

11 -13, 1996, pages 4 – 5

My Questionnaire on religion from a sample of Randolph High School.