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About the National Congregations Study
Congregations--the relatively small-scale, local, collectivities and organizations in and through which people engage in religious activity--are a basic unit of American religious life. They are the primary site of religious ritual activity, they provide an organizational model followed even by religious groups new to this country, they provide sociability and community for many, they offer opportunities for political action and voluntarism, they foster religious identities through education and practice, and they engage in a variety of community and social service activities.The National Congregations Study (NCS) was conducted in conjunction with the 1998 General Social Survey (GSS). The 1998 GSS asked respondents who attend religious services to name their religious congregation, thus generating a nationally representative sample of religious congregations. Data about these congregations were collected via a one-hour interview with one key informant--a minister, priest, rabbi, or other staff person or leader--from 1236 congregations, a response rate of 80%. Information was gathered about multiple aspects of congregations' social composition, structure, activities, and programming.
Using this web site you can work with the survey responses to create your own customized tables, determine frequencies for any question, as well as review the survey methodology and questionnaire itself.
The National Congregations Study was supported by a major grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., and by additional grants from Smith Richardson Foundation, Inc., The Louisville Institute, The Nonprofit Sector Research Fund of The Aspen Institute, and The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Data were collected by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Mark Chaves of the University of Arizona Sociology Department.