A History of Christianity
Overview
Who: This case study was presented by Dr Marion Bowman, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts Open University.
What: An online Survey, taken in conjunction with the BBC programme A History of Christianity
Why: The survey looks at the motivational values and practices of non-belonging and belonging Christians.
Where: Online at open2.net
When: A History of Christianity, six hour-long programmes, aired first on BBC4 in November 2009, was repeated on BBC2 in January and February 2010, and was broadcast again on BBC4 around Easter 2010. On BBC2, the programme attracted audiences over of over 1 million for each episode.
Project description
What does it mean to be a Christian without a church? In the 2001 Census, 71.6% of people in the UK described themselves as Christians, but only about 15% of these said they belonged to or were active members of a church. So, what does it mean to be a Christian without a church? What exactly do people mean nowadays when they describe themselves as Christian? What emerge as Christian values in the 21st century? Such questions intrigue scholars of contemporary religion.
Background
To help answer these questions and in conjunction with the remarkably successful programme A History of Christianity, an Open University survey was designed by Marion Bowman and Mika Lassander (OU PhD student working on values changes). It asked people who don't belong to a church, Christian group, or denomination but who do describe themselves as Christians, to take part in an online survey to say what Christianity means to them.
A screengrab of the BBC's site for the series.
Purpose
Rather than using media to disseminate research information, this project used the media as a means of gathering data from a group that could not be easily identified or targeted. The survey included a psychological value instrument that maps the individual's emphasis on ten distinct value types. The survey has attracted over 7,000 responses to date.
At the end of the programme, a voiceover invited the audience to take part in the Open University's online survey. The BBC website also had a link, and the survey could be reached through open2, the online portal from the OU and the BBC.
Results/ Outcomes
What worked well
Many of the respondents to the online survey were in fact church members and regular attendees, despite the wording at the start of the survey ('This survey is specifically aimed Christians who DO NOT belong to a Church'). This, plus the unexpectedly large response rate, will make detailed analysis of the data both complex and time consuming; funding is being sought for this. The survey organisers have thus ended up with an immensely valuable dataset concerning motivational values and practices of both non-belonging and belonging Christians
The survey is still live on the Open2 site.
Contact
Name: Dr Marion Bowman
Name of organisation: Open University
Email: Dr Marion Bowman
Website: Open2
