Estimating Religious Populations with the Network Scale-Up Method: A Practical Alternative to Self-Report
Getting accurate information on religious demographics from survey-based self-reports presents a difficult task, suffering from the biases of social desirability, personal safety concerns, and the ambiguous definitions of religious identity. The network scale-up method (NSUM) is an estimation strate...
| Published in: | Journal for the scientific study of religion |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 56, Issue: 4, Pages: 703-719 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Religiosity
/ Demography
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy |
| Further subjects: | B
Measurement
B network scale-up method B Religious Identity B Social Desirability B Survey Methodology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Getting accurate information on religious demographics from survey-based self-reports presents a difficult task, suffering from the biases of social desirability, personal safety concerns, and the ambiguous definitions of religious identity. The network scale-up method (NSUM) is an estimation strategy based on the enumeration of social network ties. NSUM has recently been employed to estimate the sizes of hidden populations in criminology and public health, but it has not been utilized in the study of religion. In this study, we argue for the advantages of NSUM in overcoming the biases associated with self-reports and lay out a practical guide for the scholars of religion to the design and calculation of NSUM. We use a recent survey of Chinese international students to illustrate the use of NSUM and estimate the percentage of Buddhists (4.3 percent) and Christians (8.6 percent) in this population. We recommend interested scholars to adopt NSUM for its reliability, easy implementation, and the affinity between the sociological perspective on religion and the socially-oriented assumption of NSUM. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12479 |