Research Methods Final Project:

A study on religiosity and self-esteem.

Emmanuel Nsengiyaremye
Vanier College









Research Methods 300-300-VA
Lisa Wu
May 14th, 2013
Abstract
The research has for hypothesis that the more a person is religious, the more likely he or
she will have a high self-esteem. In order to test for this hypothesis a simple random sample
(n=30) has been drawn from Vanier Colleges students. It is composed of 43.33% males and
56.67% females. They were presented with a survey in order to operationalize the independent,
dependent and control variables. These were the religiosity level, the self-esteem level, the
relationship with the parents as well as the weekly exercise frequency. The data analysis suggests
that the relation between the two main variables is opposite to the hypothesis: the less a person is
religious, the more likely he or she will have a high self-esteem.










Introduction
And whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he Proverbs 16:2 (KJV).
Many recent studies have discussed the relationship between religion and happiness or
self-esteem. All of them have various opinions and findings about the subject. For example,
Stavrova, Fetchenhauer, and Schlosser (2013) used a sample size of 101,682 subjects from 64
different countries. These subjects originated from two previous work, the combined World, and
European Value Studies (EVS,2010;WVS,2005) and the data used for the study spans between
2005 and 2009. In order to operationalize the independent and dependent variable, the subjects
were asked survey questions in relation with their happiness, satisfaction with their lives, how
they viewed their relation toward a deity, as well questions on their values. The results suggest
that religious people will report a better satisfaction depending on the fact that they live in a
religious country. Moreover, the study concluded that a countrys attitude towards religion helps
greatly in determining a strong direct relation between religion and happiness. This means that it
instead of it to be a direct cause and effect relation; it rather presents itself as a very good
prediction method. Also, an interesting finding was that a religious community living in a non-
religious country, therefore possibly in danger to break norms and be shunned, does not have a
lower appreciation of life. Indeed, the fact is that in such a situation, the community will stick
together reinforcing the groups mood. This ensures that they do not feel oppressed.
Lewis, MacGregor, and Putman (2012) have for objective to test for whether there is a
relationship between religious social networks and the connection linking religion with civic
engagement. The study uses secondary research as a method as it builds on previous work. The
data was collected in 2006 and has a sample size of respondent of 2610 and uses a probability
sample 1200 comprising racially diverse subjects of 500 blacks, 500 Hispanics, and 200 Asians.
The survey covered questions on social activities, volunteering, and giving, helping and political
activity. In order to operationalize the dependent variable the respondents were asked such
questions as which types of people in a recent time frame they have given money, or advice and
counsel. As for the independent variable, the researchers used their measures of weekly church
attendance. The results suggest that strong religious social networks are a good way to predict
civic outcomes and neighborly activities. People will tend to participate in church activities, help
their neighbors and be active in community actions. On the other hand, religious inclination or
attendance does not tend to have much influence the type of religion seems to be very indecisive
in the process as they, for most, share the same precepts. These findings are interesting to
consider in this research as it brings to light the fact that such social networks could improve
ones mood. Also, seeing as religious attendance might be considered, in general, as an important
factor, this new perspective is helpful in understanding further results this study will bring in.
In their study, Green and Elliot (2009) use the secondary survey data from the 2006 wave
of the General Social Survey (GSS) which will provide data on health, well-being, net of job
satisfaction, marital happiness and financial status. It uses two multivariate analysis with a
sample size of 1000 on overall health and 1976 on predicting happiness. This research indicates
that the relation between religion and well-being has been the focus of many studies. In order to
measure their health, the respondents were asked to indicate how they felt with the answers
having been spread on a scale. In order to capture happiness, target questions were asked. For
example, married people were asked how satisfied they felt with their marriage. Measures of age,
income level as well education level based on completed grades was included. As for religion,
the respondents were asked to define the religious affiliation, and also inclination toward a
fundamentalist or liberal view. The study concludes that marital satisfaction, job happiness,
perceived financial status and other social standards were all positively related to religious
beliefs and identity. Furthermore, it found that religious affiliation, in other words, the type of
religion, has no effects on happiness, while it is the extent to which a person identifies his or
herself as religious that affects the well-being. From this result, it is easier to imagine that people
that identify them at extremes will be more assertive than one who takes a middle position.
Method
As a mean of gathering data for this study the survey method was used. The sample
consisted of Vanier college students with a sample size of 30. This is a convenience sample and
is biased sampling for it does not represent entirely the Vanier population. The survey was
distributed, both through online and physical means, during the period of the 7
th
to 17
th
of April
2013. Each respondent was assured of the confidentiality of their answers. On top of the
demographic questions of age and gender, the survey asked several questions relating to their
religious level on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being not religious and 5, belief in a deity and regular
worship. For their self-esteem, a similar scale was used with 1 representing a very poor level and
5, a very good one. A question about relationship with the parents was put on a scale of 1 to 10,
and following the previous trend with 1 being very poor while 5 represents a very good relation.
As for the weekly exercise activities frequency, the respondents were asked to choose between
groups of 0, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 or 7.
Results
(a) Table 1: Descriptive statistics
Gender
1
Age

Religious
level
2
Relationship with
parents
3
Daily
exercise
4
Self-esteem
level
5
Mean (average) 1.57 18.50 2.83 7.27 2.87 4.33
Median 2.00 18.00 3.00 8.00 3.00 4.00
Mode 2.00 19.00 3.00 10.00 3.00 4.00
Standard
deviation 0.50 1.14 1.32 2.23 1.07 0.71
Minimum 1 17 1 3 1 2
maximum 2 22 5 10 5 5
1
Gender: 1 = Male; 2 = Female
2
Religious level: 1 = Atheist; 2 = Never worshipped; 3 = Worshipped as a child; 4 = Worships a few times a year;
5 = Worships regularly
3
Relationship with parents: 3 =Very poor; 4 = Poor; 5 = Distant; 6 = below normal; 7 = Normal; 8 = Good; 9 = Very
good; 10 = Excellent
4
Daily exercise: 1 = none; 2 = 1-2 days; 3 = 2-4 days; 4 = 5-6 days; 5 = 7 days
5
Self-esteem level: 2 = Light self-esteem; 3 = Moderate self-esteem; 4 = High self-esteem; 5 = Very high self-
esteem
(b) Table 2: Correlation with the self-esteem level
Correlation with levels of self-
esteem
Sage -0.26
gender -0.26
religious -0.16
relationship with parents 0.09
Daily exercise -0.21

(c) Table 3: Regression with the self-esteem level
Coefficients P-value
Intercept 3.259 0.15
Gender -0.401 0.17
Age 0.114 0.34
Religious level -0.103 0.37
Relationship with parents 0.065 0.35
Daily exercise -0.205 0.12
*indicates statistically significant from zero at the 5% level for a
2-tailed test



Discussion
(a) The sample was composed of 30 respondents to a survey, all from Vanier College. The
gender distribution is 43.33% males and 56.67% females. They were in the ages of 17 to 22
years old with a mean of 18.5, a median, a mode of 19, and a standard deviation of 1.137. It
operates on the independent variable being the religiosity level and dependent variable being
self-esteem. Two control variables are present: The relationship with the parents and the weekly
exercise frequency. On the religiosity level the respondents answers were between 1 and 5
where 1 is Atheist and 5, Worships regularly. It has a mean of 2.83, a median and mode of 3,
Worshipped as a child, and a standard deviation of 1.315.The self-esteem level data ranged
between 2 and 5, 2 is light self-esteem and 5 is very high self-esteem. The mean is 4.33, the
median and mode are 4, and the standard deviation is 0.711. As for the relationship with the
parents, the data are between 3 and 10, with 3 being distant and 10 excellent. It has a mean of
7.27, a median of 8, good, and a mode of 10. Its standard deviation is 2.227.As for the weekly
exercise, the data spawned across 1, 1-2 days, to 5, 7 days. The mean is 2.86, the mode and
median are 3, 2-4 days. It has a standard deviation of 1.074.
(b) The analysis of the correlation coefficients brings new perspectives to the study. Indeed,
starting with the demographic variables gender and age, it is observed that there is a coefficient
of -0.401 between gender and self-esteem while it is 0.114 for age. This suggests that, from the
fact that -0.401 means a negative weak correlation as well as 0.114 is a positive very weak
correlation, gender does not affect self-esteem in a noticeable way, and as age increase, the self-
esteem increases, but in very rare instances. The control variables wield results, from their
correlation of 0.065 for the relationship with the parents and -0.205 from weekly exercise, which
shows that the relationship has an extremely weak direct link to self-esteem, although weekly
exercise has an also very weak inverse relation to self-esteem. As for the independent variable,
the religious level, it has a correlation of -0.103, another weak and negative relation that shows
that the more a person is religious, the less likely he will report a high level of self-esteem, but it
is weak.
(c) This research has for hypothesis that the more a person is religious, the more likely he or she
will have a high self-esteem, albeit a good level of happiness. In order to test for it, two control
variables were added to the independent and dependents, these were the relationship with the
parents and the weekly exercise frequency. After going through the regression output, it has been
observed that none of the coefficient was statistically significantly different from 0 at a 5% level
of significance. This differs from what the expected relationships which were that the more a
person feels close to the parent authority, the higher their self esteem would be, or the more
exercise they performed, the happier theyd declare themselves. The facts are that none of the
variables yielded a satisfying coefficient of correlation as well which suggested that the relations
that were deemed very strong were in fact the opposite.
If the level of significance had been higher, 10%, the results show that it would have been
the same as with the 5%, as none of the p-values are lower than 0.100, this is even more useful as
it buries deeper the fact that there are no relevant relations that would go toward confirming the
hypothesis. All the results go towards the opposite direction and offer a perspective in which all
is left to do is figure out new variables that might have a stronger relation to self-esteem.
(d) Per intuition and general knowledge, the outcome of this study would have been different.
Indeed, the expected tendency was that as a person affirms himself more as religious, his self-
esteem would rise. The relation between the chosen control variables, the relationship with the
parents and the weekly exercise, both lived up to the expected outcomes. Indeed, from general
knowledge, it is a common fact that an exercised body is a healthy body which therefore makes a
person more self-confident. Moreover, a person with healthy family ties should express more
self-worth than one with a broken home. As for the dependent variable, self-esteem, while other
studies do not use the same variable, they tend to agree with the general pattern, especially if
self-esteem is considered an appropriate substitute for happiness. For example, Green and Elliot
(2010) explain that religion affiliation in itself has no impact on happiness and well-being. On
the other hand, the level of the religiosity does have an important impact on them (p.159). This
assessment proves itself to be true, but in a different light.
(e) The findings of this study were much mitigated in the fact of whether they lived up to
expectations or not. To begin with, gender expressed some interesting facts that suggest that
males tend to report a higher self-esteem than females. This was somewhat expected. None of
the included research dived into the subject further than needed, and from the general
knowledge, gender classifications are not an easy thing to do. Furthermore, an interesting issue
with the results was that none of the variable was statistically significant. Such a finding brings
the thought that the independent and control variables were not strongly related to the dependent
even if there is a relation as expressed by previous research done by Green and Elliot (2010) as
well as Lewis, Macgregor, and Putnam (2012). Also, when looking at the religious level, an
unexpected finding came to light. Indeed, as explained before, it was declared that religious
attendance had none to little effect on the well-being and happiness, but the control variable used
in this study used in the survey a question that referred to religious attendance and brought fourth
the same results. To finish, the results for the relationship with parents were not surprising as
they agreed both with general knowledge and previous work. Indeed, Stavrova, Fetchenhauer,
and Schlosser (2012) look at religious communities living in non religious countries. These
groups tend to report a high happiness level. This can be transferred to a united family where the
similar support found in the previous example is found, explaining therefore the findings.
Conclusion
A number of things could have been done differently in order to strengthen the findings.
First of all, while it was not a deciding factor for reasons coming after this, the sample size could
have been increased in order to obtain data from more divert type of people. The main issue,
however, was that this study, instead of a simple random sample, used a convenience sample,
students of the Vanier College, inducing bias. Another issue was that the questions asked in the
survey may not have been properly formulated or not precise enough to obtain from the
respondents clear answers.
Charts and pivot charts


Chart 3: Religious Level Distribution
26.67%
3.33%
40.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
Athei st Never
worshi pped
Worshi pped
as a chi l d
Worshi ps a
few ti mes a
year
Worshi ps
regul arl y



Pivot Chart 1: Gender vs Self-esteem level
1.54%
0.00% 0.00%
2.31%
9.23%
36.92%
34.62%
15.38%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
Male Female
Light self-esteem
Moderate self-esteem
High self-esteem
Very high self-esteem
'

Pivot Chart 2: Relationhip with parents vs Self-esteem
0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
1.54%
0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
2.31%
3.08% 3.08%
9.23%
3.08%
6.15%
12.31%
3.08%
6.15%
0.00%
7.69% 7.69%
0.00%
3.85%
7.69% 7.69%
15.38%
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
8.00%
10.00%
12.00%
14.00%
16.00%
18.00%
Very poor Poor Distant Below normal Normal Good Very good Excellent
Light self-esteem
Moderate self-esteem
High self-esteem
Very high self-esteem

Pivot chart 3: Weekly exercise frequency vs Self-esteem level
0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
1.54%
0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
2.31%
0.00% 0.00%
3.08%
15.38%
12.31% 12.31%
3.08%
7.69%
11.54%
23.08%
3.85% 3.85%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
None 1-2 days 2-4 days 5-6 days 7 days
Light self-esteem
Moderate self-esteem
High self-esteem
Very high self-esteem

Pivot Chart 4: Religious level vs Self-esteem level
0.00% 0.00%
1.54%
0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
2.31%
0.00% 0.00%
9.23%
3.08%
15.38%
12.31%
6.15%
19.23%
0.00%
19.23%
7.69%
3.85%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
Atheist Never worshipped Worshipped as a child Worships a few times
a year
Worships regularly
Light self-esteem
Moderate self-esteem
High self-esteem
Very high self-esteem









References
Green, M., & Elliott, M. (2010). Religion, health, and psychological well-being. Journal of
Religion and Health, 49(2), 149-163. doi:10.1007/s10943-009-9242-1

Stavrova, O., Fetchenhauer, D., & Schlosser, T. (2012). Why are religious people happy? The
effect of the social norm of religiosity across countries. Social Science Research, 42(1),
90-105. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.07.002

Lewis, V., MacGregor, C., & Putnam, R. (2012). Religion, networks, and neighborliness: The
impact of religious social networks on civic engagement. Social Science Research, 42(2),
331-346. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.09.011