Center for Social Research

Gatherings of Hope report released from the Kent County Congregations Study

Download the report (PDF, 100pp., 4.7Mb) Order bound copies from the Calvin College Campus Store.

Our report on the Kent County Congregations Study of 2007 is now online! The report, entitled Gatherings of Hope: How Religious Congregations Contribute to the Quality of Life in Kent County is downloadable now in PDF format and bound, full-color copies are available for purchase from the Calvin Campus Store. As reported on Sunday in the Grand Rapids Press, the KCCS is the most comprehensive study of religious congregations and how they contribute to the quality of life in Kent County. Inspired by the philanthropic vision of Doug and Maria DeVos and funded by their foundation, the project affirms the need for educational, community and religious sectors to collaborate in efforts to improve the lives of children and their families. These major findings of the report are found in the Executive Summary: Kent County is an unusually religious community. Compared to congregations across the country, Kent County residents are significantly more likely to attend religious services. Kent County congregations are larger in size, have more leaders, are better funded, and are more likely to have participated in or supported a social service program. Hundreds of congregations are located in areas of poverty and great need. Compared to majority White congregations, Black and Hispanic congregations in the county average three to four times the proportion of people with household incomes under $25,000. Local congregations transfer $75.6 million annually to denominations and to international, domestic and county aid and missions—but only 14 percent is clearly designated for Kent County. Worship services in Kent County take place in 28 different languages, reflecting cultural and ethnic diversity. At times multiple languages are spoken in the same congregation. Religious attendance is strongly associated with service to others. Almost 5,200 people from Kent County congregations—including paid staff and volunteers—participate in community service activities. Congregation leaders spend time worth $8.8 million annually on civic and social efforts. Congregations supply 2,827 volunteers for educational programs, but only a third of congregations report any involvement with public schools. Kent County congregations offer higher numbers of social service programs than comparable national averages—2,338 programs in all. Religious participation is not required by 70 percent of these programs. Other institutions would have to generate from $95 million to $118 million to replace the services and programs that Kent County congregations provide annually in their community-serving ministries. Gatherings of Hope is being distributed today to over 200 religious and community leaders at the Kent County Religious Leaders Symposium, held at the Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville.

Dotmarketing Presents Findings Concerning Calvin’s Website

Please join us Wednesday, October 1, 2008, at 3:30 p.m. in the Commons Annex Lecture Hall to hear the executive summary results of Calvin’s Web Site Audience Research Study.  This study was conducted by Miami-based Dotmarketing.com with technical assistance from the Center for Social Research.  It examined the effectiveness of Calvin’s current website features and explored how these features might be improved.  Research is based on interviews with over 100 faculty, staff, students and administrators; survey results from over 3,000 prospective students, Calvin students, faculty, alumni, parents, and staff; over a year and a half of calvin.edu web traffic; and analysis of 5 peer websites.  J. Todd Bennett Dotmarketing.com will be presenting on their findings and suggesting how Calvin might enhance its online services.

President of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment Visits Calvin

The Byker Chair and the Department of Geology, Geography, and Environmental Studies invite you to hear Dr. John Baden’s presentation: “Revelations and Institutions: The theology and political economy of Hutterite and Mormon experiments with intentional communities.”  Political economy offers insights into why one communal order ended in absolute failure and another has survived for almost 500 years. 

Tuesday Sept. 30, 3:30 p.m.                                                                                                   
North Hall B78

     
The same evening, Dr. Baden speaks on “The Political Economy of Endangered Species.”  Baden discusses the Endangered Species Act passed by Congress in 1973 and outlines the struggle between enacting law while dealing with the necessity of environmental trade-offs and the declining support of policies as costs escalate.

Tuesday Sept. 30, 7:30 p.m.
Commons Lecture Hall

Sara returns from a summer internship at ICPSR

One of our very own student researchers, Sara Achauer, was chosen out of an elite group of applicants to spend her summer as an intern for the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.  Read what she had to say about her experience:

“This summer I was an intern at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), a unit within the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ICPSR is one of the largest dative archives and their mission statement is to: ‘Acquire and preserve social science data, provide open and equitable access to these data, and promote effective data use.’

I was a data processor for the Child Care and Early Education Resource Connection, one of the specialized archives within ICPSR. I personally worked with the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey 1988 and the Survey of Income and Program Participation 2004 data. It was my job to acquire the correct data and related documents, write the metadata for each study, and produce formatted files for the use of member institutions.

While working at the internship, I was provided the opportunity to participate in ICPSR’s Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research. I took two graduate classes: Regression Analysis I Introduction and II Linear Models. For more information see http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog/index.html . The skills I learned over the summer gave me a more holistic view of data and research that will positively influence my work at the Center for Social Research and my personal research as a Sociology major.”

We’re glad to have you back after this great opportunity, Sara!

Congratulations Graduates!

The CSR congratulates five of our student workers who graduated from Calvin this year. Gwen Einfeld, Kirsten Anderson, Jeremy Chacko, Gerald Egede and Emily Oosterhouse were each at the CSR for over a year, and now they seek to employ themselves in various exciting fields:
• Gwen, an Engineering graduate, is pursuing a graduate degree in Engineering at Purdue University.
• Emily, having completed Calvin’s Psychology, Pre-Law and Business programs, is going on to study Forensic Psychology at the University of Denver
• Gerald, an Accounting major, is pursuing a graduate degree in Business or Accounting in the United Kingdom.
• Kirsten, graduating with a degree in English will be teaching English in Cairo, Egypt and may continue working in the field of social research in English.
• Jeremy, graduate of Calvin’s History and Political Science programs, will be working at Yellowstone National Park.

During their time at the Center, the graduates handled projects ranging from data entry to survey design and administration. The CSR bids farewell to the graduates, who will be sorely missed.