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[A PDF copy of this study is available here. - Adobe Acrobat or Reader required]
American Religious Identification Survey
INNOVATIONS BETWEEN NSRI 1990 AND ARIS 2001
The NSRI 1990 study was a very large survey in which 113,723 persons were questioned about their religious preferences. However, it provided for no further detailed questioning of respondents regarding their religious beliefs or involvement or the religious composition of their household.
In the light of those lacunae in the 1990 survey, ARIS 2001 took steps to enhance both the range and the depth of the topics covered. For example, new questions were introduced concerning the religious identification of spouses. To be sure, budget limitations, have necessitated a reduction in the number of respondents. The current survey still covers a very large national sample (over 50,000 respondents) that provides a high level of confidence for the results and adequate coverage of most religious groups and key geographical units such as states and major metropolitan areas.
For the sake of analytic depth, additional questions about religious beliefs and affiliation as well as religious change were introduced for a smaller representative sub-sample of (17,000) households. Even this sample is about ten times greater than most typical opinion surveys of the US population. This sub-sample as well as the larger sample were weighted to reflect the total U.S. adult population
These innovations have provided a much richer data set that goes far beyond the mere question of religious preference. The new data allow for a much more sophisticated analysis than NSRI 1990. They offer a more nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics of religion in contemporary American society and especially how religious adherence relates to countervailing secularizing trends. The information collected is also potentially much more useful for the various national religious bodies.
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