Assessing the Validity of Data Synthesis Methods to Estimate Religious Populations

The present study tests the validity of a data synthesis approach to population estimates of religiously defined groups. This is particularly important in places like the United States, where there is no definitive source of official data on its population's religious composition, and researche...

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VerfasserInnen: de Kramer, Raquel Magidin (VerfasserIn) ; Parmer, Daniel (VerfasserIn) ; Saxe, Leonard 1947- (VerfasserIn) ; Tighe, Elizabeth (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Wiley-Blackwell [2018]
In: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Jahr: 2018, Band: 57, Heft: 2, Seiten: 206-220
normierte Schlagwort(-folgen):B USA / Bayes-Regel / Religionsgemeinschaft / Denomination (Religion) / Schätzung
RelBib Classification:AA Religionswissenschaft
AD Religionssoziologie; Religionspolitik
KBQ Nordamerika
weitere Schlagwörter:B Measurement
B Jewish Population
B Religion
B Bayesian estimation with poststratification
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Zusammenfassung:The present study tests the validity of a data synthesis approach to population estimates of religiously defined groups. This is particularly important in places like the United States, where there is no definitive source of official data on its population's religious composition, and researchers must rely on costly, large-scale surveys, or congregational membership studies. Each approach has limitations, especially for estimation of small religious groups and for estimation within small geographic areas. Without official statistics, the degree of bias in estimates is unknown. Data synthesis, specifically Bayesian multilevel estimation with poststratification, offers a useful alternative that maximizes the utility of data across all sources to estimate multiple groups from the same sources of data. This method also facilitates comparison of groups. This study provides evidence of the validity of the approach by synthesizing data from Canada, a country that includes questions about religious identification in its national census.
ISSN:1468-5906
Enthält:Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12513