Introduction
In the context of interreligious conflicts today, it is important to understand the influence of religion on society. At different stages of the formation of creeds, various religious and cultural traditions were formed from ideas dictated by faith. Freedom of choice for a person is one of the main criteria for his existence. Someone sees the purpose of their life path in observing religious norms, and someone is skeptical about everything supernatural. The topic of the study – the influence of religion on a person – is relevant for discussion in the modern world, as it appears in many spheres of society.
Quantitative Methodology
The use of the quantitative method in this study was expedient since it was oriented on understanding the problem of the social institution of religion. The study aimed to explain them, to formulate them in the form of categories. Hence the emphasis on given hypotheses, the study of certain variables (religiosity, emotions, culture) and the search for connections between them. The chosen quantitative method was a questionnaire of the Q&A Session type. The content of the questionnaire was highly standardized – the questions asked and the answers allowed by the topic of the survey were completely predetermined.
The research procedure based on closed questionnaire questions turned out to be well adapted to the need for obtaining scientific knowledge in the socio-religious sphere. It touched upon various topics of dynamics of social subjects that are not amenable to direct scientific control from the point of view of the classical system of concepts of status and role. Consequently, a more precise definition of the corresponding influence of religion on social subjects was assumed. The form of quantitative research chosen for this purpose – a highly standardized questionnaire – was useful in answering my RQs.
Survey Results
The study involved men (22%) and women (78%) aged 23 years (62%) and younger (38%). Among the survey respondents, the majority (78%) belonged to the Caucasian race, and the remaining 22% of respondents belonged to other races (including Asians). Most of the participants noted their religious affiliation as Christians (62%). 31% of respondents answered that they do not profess any religion, and one participant indicated that she was a Buddhist. For an equal number of respondents – 39% – religion was either very important or completely unimportant. 22% of respondents did not define the role of religion in their lives. However, only 22% said they committed to the religious practice of their culture. 47% admitted that they do not participate in religious practices, and another 31% answered they are “not sure”.
The majority of respondents (62%) answered that religion does not affect their emotional state. The influence of religion on emotions was noted by only 31%, 7% were uncertain. Thus, null hypotheses that respondents for whom religious culture is important are necessarily committed to religious practices and their emotions are influenced by religion have not been confirmed (Cipriani et al., 2017). However, alternative hypotheses have been confirmed, according to which about half of the religious respondents will answer these questions in the affirmative.
Interpretation of the Statistical Data
Descriptive Statistics
As a result of the study, it was revealed that women are more religious than men: not a single male representative was identified who would answer in the affirmative. Women were also more susceptible to the influence of religion on emotions and more often attended religious practices. It is also possible to talk about the dependence of religiosity on age: the younger respondents, almost all, with the exception of one, admitted that they are not religious. Almost all religious respondents were 23 years old.
Statistical Analyses
The statistical method used was correlation analysis since there could be a functional relationship between variables: one of them was defined as a function of the other. However, there could be a connection of another kind between the variables, manifested in the fact that one of them reacts to a change in the other. It appears when there are common random factors affecting both variables. For example, the variable “Age” and the variable “Religiosity” are interdependent, so when the first variable changes, the second one may also change. The correlate of the variables “Participation in religious practices” and “The influence of religion on the emotional state” was the variable “Religiosity”. If the correlation coefficient of “Religiosity” is negative, it means that as the values of this variable increase, the values of others also become less positive.
Outliers
There was only one outlier in this study: a 19-year-old guy who was the only respondent under the age of 23 and a male who recognized the influence of religious practices on emotional state.
Conclusion
The preliminary results of the study presented here allow to enrich theoretical and practical scientific research through the disclosure of the dependence of religiosity and age-gender factors. According to the data obtained, the degree of religiosity strengthens with age. Women have more significant relationships between religiosity and participation in religious practices. Similarly, women’s religiosity has a greater effect on the peculiarities of their emotional state. That is, the practical actions, associations and worldview of women in the spiritual and religious spheres are more interconnected.
Reference
Cipriani, R., Ferrarotti, L., & Schneiderman, H. G. (2017). Sociology of religion: A historical introduction. Oxford, UK: Routledge.