05/07/07
        SRELI - Sibling Religion Module        cor964.txt

For more information on the Religion Module see Appendix I- cor 964

OVERVIEW

  The religion section for the 2003 - 2005 round of data collection replicates
  the 1992 - 1993 collection with one change.  The 2003 - 2005 module only asks
  questions about the respondent's spouse if the respondent married this spouse
  after the 1992 - 1993 interview and still lives with this spouse.  Because of
  these constraints, fewer than 300 respondents actually received the spouse
  questions.  Otherwise, the module follows the same pattern it has since 1975
  by measuring religious preference and frequency of attendance for the
  respondent and the spouse if appropriate.  Each new round of data collection
  has yielded new religious denominations, so the list of denominations has
  grown over the years.

BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS

  cl101re - Indicates if GR is in 80% religion sample

  cl001re - GR's religious preference (denomination)

  cl002rec - Raw numeric component for frequency of GR's religious attendance
         in past year

  cl003red - Units to go with numeric component for frequency of GR's religious
       attendance

  cl004rec - Frequency of GR's religious attendance converted from raw numeric
       component and units to total times in the past year

  cl005spc - Do GR and spouse share same religious preference (denomination)?

  cl006spc - Spouse's religious preference (denomination)

  cl007spc - Is spouse's religous preference the same now as before they were
         married?

  cl008spd - Spouse's religious preference (denomination) before GR and spouse
         were married


CODING

  cl001re

    Six new codes were added to the list of religious denominations due to
    responses that simply did not fit into any other categories.  The codes are
    as follows:

      100 'Independently faithful' - several respondents reported independent
      of organized religion. Examples include 'i just believe in god,' reading
      the bible, personal belief systems, self-reported sense of spirituality,
      etc (mostly judeo-christian themes). This is not meant to be the same as
      'no religion'.

      101 'Non-denominational christian' - several respondents used the term
      non-denominational but without saying protestant, such that code 19 was
      not usable and 32 was insufficiently specific.

      102 'Non-denominational' - in similar fashion, several respondents said
      non-denominational without elaborating at all. Interviewers rarely
      pressed for any more information.

      103 'Universal/all religions ok/no pref' - some respondents wanted to be
      classified this way, instead of being considered irreligious. Merits of
      all religions was a theme in such cases.

      104 'Gnosticism'

      105 'new thought(christian-based)'

PROBLEMS

  Coding the open responses for religious preference proved difficult due to
  the vast range of denominations given.  It is for this reason that the list
  of denominations is over one hundred long.  Some responses may be different
  verbal descriptions of the same denomination, but it is not appropriate to
  make such assumptions.

  When reporting frequency of service attendance, some respondents noted that
  they participated in other types of groups outside of church services such as
  bible study or choir.  Other respondents stated that they do not regularly
  attend services, but have gone to weddings and funerals during the year.

PEOPLE

  Matt Mulvahill - Finalizing module, notes, and COR.

  Justin Resnick - Checking of notes, coding and correction of raw data,
  writing of the COR.

  Luke Piefer - Compilation of variable list, creation of analysis variables,
  checking of notes, coding and correction of data.

NOTES

  See handbook for additional notes.