A Survey for Those Raised in Religious Homes!

I’ve written before about the serious methodological problems besetting essentially every study of homeschooling. Well, it’s about to move way beyond that. Brian Ray, founder the agenda-ridden National Home Education Research Institute, is now expanding his repertoire with a study of all young adults who grew up in religious homes. Here’s how he describes the survey (which you can take here):

This is a survey of those between the ages of 18-38 years old that grew up in religious homes. Our goal is to come up with data points of key influences that either encouraged or deterred the participants from practicing the same faith as their parents. Dr. Brian Ray, a decades-long experienced researcher, is the principal investigator and will confidentially analyze the data. We will use the statistics from this survey to help equip parents to make more informed decisions in the education and spiritual guidance of their children. All results are anonymous. We greatly appreciate your participation in this effort.

I’d like to encourage everyone who is between age 18 and 38 and grew up in a religious home of any kind to fill out the survey and pass it on to their friends (via twitter, facebook, blogging, etc.). Yes, Ray et al. are trying to find a pattern so as to prevent the loss of adherents—they’re aware that Millenials are less religious than previous generations—but I don’t think telling our own experiences as those who have left or at the very least moved in a different direction can hurt, especially given that the survey ends with a text box asking for any further input. We might as well let them know we’re out there!

This survey is being shared from person to person, meaning that it’s not going to get a random sample. That means it’s really not very scientific at all—though given Brian Ray’s track record in this kind of thing, it will still be passed off as though it is. Lana of Wide Open Ground received this email about the survey from a Christian homeschool leader:

After 30 years of a homeschool movement, we’ve learned something of the academic success and the socio-economic successes by various surveys. But what about the spiritual condition of the graduates of this first generation of home education? How did we do? What were the educational, cultural, relational, and spiritual influences in our children’s lives, and where are they today?

From all reports, the millennial generation is less committed to a Christian worldview; they’re leaving the institutional church; and they are the most narcissistic, the laziest, the most unsuccessful, and the most spiritually bankrupt generation ever. (Reference: here; here).

So. . . what about our children? What is the condition of our homeschool graduates? What happened to those children raised in Christian homes back in the 1990s? Where are they now?

Introducing. . . The Gen 2 Survey.

We have released the Generation 2 survey for every young person (18-35 years of age), Christian, Non-Christian, Public Schooled, Private Schooled, and Home Schooled.

The survey is anonymous (there is no tracing of answers to sources). It will take 10-20 minutes to complete, and each participant enters a contest to win one of THREE I-PAD MINI’s!

Click here to visit the Survey Webpage: www.gen2survey.com

We Need Your Help!

Please pass this survey on to every young person 18-35 years of age that you know (preferably raised in Christian homes in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s)! Pass it along to churches, homeschool support groups, or any family you know with older children.

Click here to visit the Survey Webpage: www.gen2survey.com

If this isn’t proof that this survey is unscientific, I don’t know what is. And further, if this isn’t proof that we shouldn’t also have our say, well, again, I don’t know what is. Fill out the survey and let its makers know how you feel. Let’s not let them have any excuse to deny our existence.

I do want to be clear, though: This survey is only for those who are between the ages of 18 and 38 and grew up in religious homes. Do not screw with this survey. If you qualify, answer it honestly. If you don’t, don’t.

If you want to know what sort of questions are asked—and trust me, it’s interesting—anyone can view them by flipping through the survey with or without filling out the answers. Some of the questions are obviously leading, some are impossible to answer (how do you rank how close to or distant from God you feel when you don’t believe there is a God in the first place, for instance?), and some seem odd if the survey really is meant for anyone raised in a religious home and not just for homeschoolers (for instance, the question about what kind of homeschool groups your parents were involved in).

When I filled out the survey it said I would receive an email when the results come out, so I’ll keep you posted!