Center for Social Research

New CSR Student Research Assistants

We’re pleased to announce that two new members have joined our student research assistant team. These two began working here in January, and they have been diligently entering data, sending out surveys, and otherwise learning the ropes.

	Tony Ditta Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI Year at Calvin: 2nd Majors: Economics & Mathematics Minor: Computer Sciences Favorite research software: Access
	Kelsey McCallops Hometown: Hudson, Ohio Year at Calvin: 2nd Major: Psychology Favorite research software: Inquisite

Tony and Kelsey agree that it’s been a valuable two months, and that they’ve already learned a lot of new skills.

The CSR and FTAP

Recently, the city of Grand Rapids and the Center for Social Research have been working together to evaluate the effectiveness of the Fast Track Accountability Program.

FTAP is a diversion program for people charged with non-violent misdemeanors like shoplifting or vandalism; by admitting guilt, apologizing, paying some restitution to the victim, and working at least 20 hours of community service, those who have been charged can be diverted from the traditional criminal justice system and avoid having charges reflected on their permanent record.

This program centers on the idea of restorative justice: attempting to balance the needs of the offender, the victim, and the community. The current system treats crime as something committed against the state.  Restorative justice recognizes that crimes have victims, and believes that those victims should have a voice in proceedings. Instead of a court case ending with a “winner” and a “loser,” restorative justice engages both sides of a crime and works to find a mutually beneficial solution.

Restorative justice aims at assisting victims and healing community. Having more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in America does very little to restore losses to victims or bring communities together. Empowering victims to seek restitution instead of leaving the offenders with jail time leaves everyone better off, and the U.S. could cut back on the $68 billion that it spends on corrections every year.

In fact, America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, so the success of a program like this could have far-reaching effects. It could be that fewer people will have the specter of a conviction hanging over them as they go on with life and search for jobs, and fewer families will be left in need by an incarcerated parent. Add to that the possible benefits of growing trust in the criminal justice system and you’ll understand why many people are excited about FTAP.

On the other hand, there are significant risks and expenses associated with any such experiment, including the possibility that the program has unintended negative consequences on crime rates or for victims. The city wants to be sure that reforms are effective and efficient before committing to any long-term reform.

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Note from CSR Director, James Penning

The 2008 presidential election was all about the economy, right?

Not so fast.

In a recently published book, The Disappearing God Gap? Religion and the 2008 Presidential Election (Oxford University Press, 2010), five scholarly colleagues and I challenge this assumption.

The key finding of the book is that religion mattered greatly in that election. While voting patterns among various religious groups did not differ markedly from patterns found in other recent presidential elections, religious groups were certainly forces to be reckoned with in 2008. Once again, conservative, evangelical Protestants proved to be a key, perhaps the key, component of the G.O.P. voting bloc. The predicted shift of evangelicals from Republican to Democrat support was modest at best. On the other hand, Barack Obama and the Democrats fared exceedingly well among the nation’s large and growing groups of Hispanic Protestants and Catholics.

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Kent County Congregations Canvassing Completed

The Center for Social Research is pleased to announce that, as of November 5, 2009, we have completed our comprehensive church canvassing project! The student research assistants estimate that they covered over 124 tracts, and collected data documenting congregational movements and new congregations in Kent County. In total, 24 new congregations were discovered.

Even though there is a feeling of finality to this phase of the project, in reality it has only just begun. We now have a great deal of data to add to the previously collected data from the Kent County Congregational Survey of 2006 that was compiled into the impressive report, Gatherings of Hope. These data will also be used to make a comprehensive and up-to-date directory of Kent County congregations.

By visiting each congregation in Kent County, student researchers were able to take pictures of every building and record any changes to leadership, contact information, membership, and other relevant information.

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Preliminary Analysis for Clergy and Public Affairs Survey 2009

Final analysis has begun for 2009 Clergy and Public Affairs Survey concerning political beliefs and clergy practices from ten denominations. This year's survey continues a series of post-presidential election surveys conducted since 1980 for the Southern Baptist Convention and since 1988 for other denominations. Answers to frequently asked questions about the survey and a list of denominations can be found here.

CSR student Research Assistants were an integral part of the data collection process, stuffing thousands of envelopes inviting clergy to participate in either online or printable versions of the survey. Research Assistants also entered over 1,500 paper surveys to add to the more than 1,200 online surveys submitted.

Comparative demographic information from 2001 and 2009 post-election surveys (excluding PCUSA data for early analysis) shows that gender, ethnicity, and community size reported by participants have not changed significantly since 2001, but age of respondents has increased. Nearly 61 percent of respondents in 2001 fell into the category of 34 to 54 years of age. In 2009, only 48 percent fell into this category, and the category of 55 and older experienced a growth of 12 percent, making nearly 46 percent of respondents fall into this category.

In the following table, we see that the clergy seem to be leaning toward a theologically orthodox viewpoint. In 2009, clergy reported consistently higher percentages of agreement on the following measures of theological conservatism. However, clergy agreeing with the statement concerning Christ’s physical second coming have decreased by 1 percent. Perhaps the most interesting change is the increase from 2001 to 2009 in both Evangelical and Mainline clergy in total agreement with the statement “Adam and Eve were real people” by 8.2% and 12.6% respectively. Evangelical denominations consist of the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptists, the Christian Reformed Church, the Lutheran Missouri Synod, and the Mennonites. Mainline denominations consist of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, and the Reformed Church of America.

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