The start of 20 years of International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) surveys within New Zealand by Professor Philip Gendall, Department of Marketing, Massey University.A verbose rundown on topics follows.Attitudes towards religious behaviours. Topics: Personal estimation of
happiness; assessment of responsibility of the state regarding job
creation and income levelling; stronger punishment and the death
penalty as measures to combat crime; attitude to pre-marital sexual
intercourse and affairs; attitude to homosexuality and abortion;
judgement on role distribution in marriage and attitude to working
women; honesty in paying taxes and attitude to honesty of citizens with
the state; trust in institutions such as the Federal Parliament, business,
industry, authorities, churches, judiciary and schools.
Attitude to non-religious politicians and office-holders; influence on
voters as well as government through church leaders; judgement on the
power of churches and religious organisations; doubt or firm belief in
God; perceived nearness to God; development of personal belief in God;
belief in a life after death; belief in the devil, heaven, hell and miracles;
conviction regarding the Bible; fatalism; the meaning of life and
Christian interpretation of life; contact with the dead; religious ties at a
turning point in life; religious affiliation of father, mother and
spouse/partner; frequency of church attendance of father and of
mother; personal direction of belief and frequency of church
attendance in adolescence; frequency of prayer and participation in
religious activities.
Self-classification of personal religiousness; attitude to school prayer;
personal conscience, social rules or God’s laws as basis for deciding
between right and wrong; attitudes to prohibition of religious criticism
in literature and films; superstition; belief in lucky charms, fortune
tellers, wonder doctors, signs of the zodiac and horoscopes; conversion
of faith after crucial experience; idea of God; judgement on world and
people as good or bad.
Living together with partner; type and temporal extent of vocational
employment; private or public employer; professional independence
and number of employees; superior function and span of control;
number of colleagues; union membership; unemployment; party
inclination and behaviour at the polls; self-classification on a left-right
continuum; religious affiliation; religiousness; self-classification of social
class affiliation; residential status; training and employment of
spouse/partner as well as parents; size of household; household
income. Also encoded were: region; rural or urban area; city size; ethnic
identification.
