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Regional Variations in Religiosity: A Case Study of the Catholic Church
Regional Variations in Religiosity: A Case Study of the Catholic Church
While members of the same religion often practice their religion in the same way, this is not
always the case. Sometimes members of the same religion behave in very different ways
depending on whom they are or where they live. In this learning module, we will explore how
the beliefs of members in the Catholic Church vary according to their region.
We can use data from the American Catholic Laity Poll, 2011 at the Association of Religion
Data Archives (www.theARDA.com) to explore the differences in practices and beliefs
among Catholics in different parts of America.
Open your web browser and go to the homepage for the Association of Religion Data
Archives (ARDA).
To begin with, let’s find the American Catholic Laity Poll, 2011. Locate the link to this
survey in the Data Archive and click on it. For assistance locating a data file on the ARDA,
click here.
Using the information provided on the summary page for the American Catholic Laity Poll,
2011, answer the following questions:
1. First, how did the researchers gather data for this study? Was the survey given over the
Internet, on paper, in a face-to-face interview, or by some other means?
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2. In all, how many people were interviewed in the American Catholic Laity Poll, 2011?
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One way we can compare members of the same faith in different parts of the county is by
comparing their religious behavior. In the social scientific literature, religious behaviors are
often classified according to whether they occur in public or in private. We will start by
looking at a common public religious behavior—church attendance.
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Regional Variations in Religiosity: A Case Study of the Catholic Church
Using the grey “Search” tab, search for the keywords: “attend” and “mass.” For assistance
navigating data sets on the ARDA, click here.
More than one question may appear in the search results, but we’re interested in the survey
question that asks respondents, “Aside from wedding and funerals, about how often do you
attend mass?”
3. Did you find this question? What is the name and number of the question?
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4. What are the six possible responses?
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5. What was the modal (or most common) response given by Catholics to this question?
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Now, let’s look at how mass attendance varies by region. Click on the “Analyze results” link.
For assistance using the “Analyze results” feature, click here.
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Regional Variations in Religiosity: A Case Study of the Catholic Church
6. Using the table marked “Region,” fill in the following chart with the percent of Catholics
who attend mass “at least once a week.”
7. Which region of the United States appears to have the largest percentage of Catholics who
attend “at least once a week?” Which appears to have the smallest?
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Regional Variations in Religiosity: A Case Study of the Catholic Church
8. Now, using the same regional table, fill in the following chart with the percentage of
Catholics who attend “Seldom or never.”
9. Which region appears to have the highest percentage of Catholics who attend “seldom or
never”? Which appears to have the lowest?
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So far we’ve looked at how Catholics differ in the public behavior of attending church. Next
we’ll see how American Catholics differ in the more private religious practice of prayer.
Return to the summary section of the Gallup Poll of Catholics, 2005 and click on the gray tab
marked “Search.” Type in the keyword “pray.” More than one result may come up, but the
question we are interested in is the one that asks, “How regularly do you pray, apart from
Mass?”
Once again, when this question was asked, respondents were allowed to give any answer they
chose and the responses were later recoded into five categories.
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Regional Variations in Religiosity: A Case Study of the Catholic Church
10. What are the five possible responses?
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Now click on the “Analyze results” link below the question.
11. What is the most common category? What about the second most common category?
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Next we’ll see how Catholics in different parts of the country differ in how much they pray.
12. Scroll down to the table titled “Region,” and fill in the percentages for the following table:
East
Midwest
South
West
More than once
daily
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Daily
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Occasionally or
sometimes
Seldom or never
13. In what region of the country do Catholics pray the most? In what region do they pray the
least? Was this what you expected to find?
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Regional Variations in Religiosity: A Case Study of the Catholic Church
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In this learning module we learned that not all members of the same faith practice their
religion in the same way. We also learned that both public and private religious behaviors can
differ significantly depending on the region in which people live.
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