Appendix B - Methodologies

Methodologies

In-Depth Survey (Qualitative)

An exploratory, open-ended, online survey was conducted among 102 Christians to understand more about their spiritual conversations as well as online interactions. This survey was conducted between April 20 and May 15, 2017.

Nationally Representative Survey (Quantitative)

The primary source of data in this report is a survey of 1,714 U.S. adults, comprised of an over-sample of 535 Millennials and 689 practicing Christians, conducted online June 22–July 13, 2017. Respondents were recruited from a national consumer panel, and minimal weighting was applied to ensure representation of certain demographic factors, such as age, gender, ethnicity and region. The sample error for this data is plus or minus 2.2% at the 95% confidence level for the total sample. A subgroup of participants had either: “shared my views on faith or religion in the last 5 years” OR “someone has shared their views on faith or religion with me in the last 5 years.”

Definitions

Self-identified Christians select “Christian” from a list of religious affiliations.
Non-Christians do not self-identify as Christian.
Churched Christians identify as Christian and have attended church
within the past six months.
Unchurched Christians identify as Christian but have not attended church within the past six months.
Practicing Christians identify as Christian, have attended church within the past month and strongly agree that their faith is very important in their life today.
Non-practicing Christians identify as Christian, but do not qualify as practicing under the definition above.
Eager conversationalists identify as Christian and have had 10 or more conversations about faith in the past year.
Reluctant conversationalists identify as Christian and have had between zero and nine conversations about faith in the past year.
Gen Z were born 1999 to 2015 (only 13to 18-year-olds included).
Millennials were born 1984 to 1998.
Gen X were born 1965 to 1983.
Boomers were born 1946 to 1964.
Elders were born before 1946.