Beneath the Surface: A Critique of the Common Survey Model in the Study of Nonreligion. (5th June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Järnefelt, Elisa
• Is Part Of: Secularism & nonreligion. Volume 9(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-06-05
• Subjects: Secularism -- Periodicals; Atheism -- Periodicals; 211.6
• DOI: 10.5334/snr.106
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2053-6712

Abstract

When measuring nonreligiosity, a common approach is to ask about the participants' religious or nonreligious affiliation and belief in God. In this critical commentary, this type of methodological approach – referred as the "survey model" – is first placed in its historical context. The article suggests that understanding the historical context and cultural function of the survey model illuminates various theoretical and methodological limitations that have been previously recognized in multiple areas of research from the study of religion and sociology to survey methodology and cognitive sciences. Based on this interdisciplinary review, it is noted that, if relying on the survey model in either qualitative or quantitative research, the studies are likely to sustain the cultural categories of "religion" and "nonreligion" that, paradoxically, are implicitly defined by the survey model, and remain at the level of reputation management. To overcome these limitations and allowing researchers to assess cultural and cognitive aspects of the forming and construing of a human phenomenon like nonreligiosity, the article emphasizes the importance of multimethodology along with an interdisciplinary theoretical framework.