This week I began to play with potential survey questions. It’s nothing special to say the least, just some chicken scratch about what I want to study. I have been researching related information: how to write surveys, how to interpret them, good vs bad questions. I have also been doing some preliminary research on different religions. I need to decide, soon, which religions or groups of religions I will be studying. I have determined, after reading the 1975 article, that I should study both Eastern and Western religious groups simultaneously. Obviously, this survey will be confined to American participants, which may lead to culture being a confounding variable.
I need to research more on measuring—quantitatively—surveys, and the religions I will be studying. This will be a lot of work, and I have only begun my research into this topic. I have a lot of work to do the next few weeks. My goal is to compile at least a comprehensive rough draft of the survey by the end of the semester, so I can spend third quarter sharing and conducting the survey.
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After sending my proposal to the professors Dr. Grawe and Dr. Shariff, I got a timely response from both. Dr. Grawe thinks I should conduct my own survey in order to retrieve the data I am looking for (time allocation, religion), but Dr. Shariff assumed I would use pre-existing data. Both are valid statistics, but I need to figure out which type of data I am collecting.
I looked into other studies researching similar relationships. I found an article from 1975 that looked at the time allocation of religious people. This was very informative article in showing how to collect and analyze data. However, it did not include Eastern religions in its study, and based its information on nuclear, heterosexual families, something that is becoming more and more obsolete in modern society. I will use elements of this research to conduct a study with more contemporary results. Life has been crazy this week, so I have essentially gotten nothing done on Capstone. It’s ok though, I cannot do much until my teacher gets me feedback on the proposal. But with PSAT on Wednesday (day off for us seniors!) and State tennis on Thursday and Friday, this week has been eaten up by make-up tests and work time. I can’t wait to dive into Capstone after tennis season is over, but until then, enjoy my proposal!
This is the final week of Quarter 1 of senior year. That means we are currently less than 7 months away from the end of high school!
Rather than posting a comprehensive blog post this week, I have decided to post the product of my quarter 1 research: my proposal. Mr. Rauh did not say there was anything wrong with it, which either means I did very well or very poorly. It is by no means an official economic or psychological research paper, although it is formatted to APA style. Instead, this was written (and graded) in the form of an English essay. I hope you enjoy reading my future plan. I would love any suggestions you have about it! The quarter is almost over and I have just begun my official proposal. I will be sure to post the official document once it is complete. This week has been dedicated to the proposal and annotated bibliography; I am sure that I will be working on it through the weekend. Much of my time in capstone has been shortened due to NHS and tennis. I will need to make up for lost time as the quarter comes to an end.
One of the more difficult aspects of the proposal is the formatting. I have gotten comfortable with MLA formats, but to switch to APA will take me more time. It is a good experience for me, however, since this format is so imperative to psychological and economic research. As for the content of my proposal, I want to research how spirituality affects time allocation. I need to define capital and consumer time, and figure out how to measure degree of spirituality. I predict that those people with a foundational belief in a greater being or force will spend their time more wisely (by allocating more time for their own well-being) than those with less spirituality. Among the time, I want to study phone usage, athletics, reading, self-reflection, and television. It was recently brought to my attention that I could potentially work with a college student to conduct my research. Colleges would supply an effective and diverse sample, and a college student helping with my research would provide a second source of ideas and credibility. I am excited to ask the professors that I have previously contacted if this collaboration is possible. My project is ambitious, and there is no way I can find a single, solid answer. This research should, however, lead in a direction that opens up future studies as to the relationship between religion and economics. This week was especially short, due to Monday and Thursday off and Wednesday at an NHS meeting. However, I spent what little time I had on making my annotated bibliography. Next week, I must get started on my Proposal. I learned a lot from my research, but I need to clarify what exactly about religion and economics I will be studying, and what I am doing for my final presentation. I want to study how people’s allocation of time is affected by their religious beliefs, and I believe there will be a positive correlation between productive activity and religious belief. I want to conduct my own research as to this, perhaps around Rockford. I also want to do a video essay, a sort of religious and economic episode of Nova. Is this too ambitious? I would love to know your thoughts. I am excited to get started!
This week, I finished the research articles I received from Dr. Grawe and Dr. Shariff. Out of the articles I read, Johnathan Gruber’s “Religious Market Structure, Religious Participation, and Outcomes: Is Religion Good for You?” proved interesting because it showed the correlation between religiosity and market density. After reading through the research processes and their subsequent conclusions, I have decided to conduct my own study on how religion affects people’s allocation of time. I will look at the similarities and differences between how certain religions affect people’s preferences to spend consumable time versus capital time. Consumable time includes any time that is used for entertainment; nothing that develops spiritual, mental, or physical growth. Capital time is the exact opposite: any time that develops spiritual, mental, or physical growth. It will be difficult to find people to survey, but I am excited to get started.
I have been reading into economic research in the last week. Although the language is proving difficult, I am slowly able to understand the research, and it has given me insight as to how to quantify religion, and how to accurately judge people’s religiosity.
So far, I have read articles that specifically research the relationship between religion and pro-social behavior, anti-social behavior, and economic performance. All of these prove very intriguing, as there is an especially strong correlation between anti-social behavior (crime) and religious belief. A study by A. Shariff and M. Rhemtulla identifies that more belief in hell than heaven in a country (a punishing God) correlated to a smaller crime rate in that country compared to others. Contrarily, more belief in heaven than in hell (a rewarding God) tends to have a higher crime rate than other countries. I also briefly read into the NCAA’s refusal to compete in North Carolina due to the bathroom law; it is highly likely that the economy in North Carolina will suffer as a result of this law, since in their exclusion they have excluded themselves. Although this is interesting, I do not believe this is an issue I would like to tackle at this time. I have determined from my reading that I want to study the relationship between religion and economics on a controlled scale. More specifically, I want to study if and how different religions affect people’s allocations of funds. If I can find a commonality between varying religious people in this way, then I can show how religions are not so very different after all. This week, I was able to contact a number of credible people about my project idea. They all got back to me with plenty of reading material and information. I am truly grateful! My plan is to go through these materials in the coming week.
My next step is to determine exactly how I will be studying and presenting this relationship between economics. Potentially, I could study how people allocate their time (consumable vs. capital) and how that allocations correlates to certain religious practices. Another route is to analyze the costs and benefits of religious participation in American society. Perhaps I could combine the two. I also should start to research religions, and contact religious persons to better understand each culture. However, I feel that I need to first know what exactly about religion I am studying. A big problem I see myself having is the project itself. I have the research, and I will have the study. But how will I present this study? I want to do a video essay, but is that being realistic, or just wishful thinking? I want my presentation to be professional, and I want to focus on the research I have done over the year. I will further look into simple but effective video essays. However, this is something I can decide once I have my baseline research completed, and I know what exactly I will study. If anyone has any ideas about how I should present or approach this research, feel free to comment! This week, I have refined my project to be a cost-benefit analysis of religious participation. I read “God Is Watching You” by Dr. Azim Shariff, a research project that measured the correlation between “God concepts” (ig: prophet, divine, holy) could contribute to how much money they gave to anonymous strangers. The research inspired me to reach out to Dr. Shariff, and explore his research. I have not gotten any reply, but will continue to study his research, as it correlates to my research.
I also had the opportunity to talk to the Economics teacher, Mr. McCoy. He led me to the idea of a cost-benefit analysis. He also gave me a professor to contact about my project at Carleton College. I plan on emailing him in the very near future, to ask for direction on the project. The biggest obstacle in that project is quantifying religious participation. As a completely subjective entity, it will be hard to reconcile with objective economics. Another obstacle is the project itself. I would like to do a video essay, but how can I present that effectively? This is a question I must also address in the coming weeks. McCoy and I discussed a potential for a public survey, studying adults’ beliefs in parallel to their economic choices. This will be difficult to implement, and I am not yet sure if I should study the difference between religions or just the difference between theism and atheism, but I am excited to put it together. I have the foundations of a project; now it is a matter of implementing it. |
Emma Laiis a college senior majoring in Economics (Math Emphasis), Psychology, and Religious Studies. Archives
September 2020
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