Essay/Term paper: Study on religion

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Religion

Study on Religion

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.