National Congregations Study, 1998 and 2006 [Cumulative File] Chaves, Mark A. abortion advocacy African Americans AIDS altruism anti-abortion movement associations budgets Catholics census tract level charitable donations Christianity church attendance church buildings church groups church membership clergy community involvement community participation demographic characteristics ethnic groups euthanasia expenditures financial support gender roles Hinduism Islam Judaism leadership memberships mosques nonprofit organizations outreach programs political ideologies Protestants religion religious affiliation religious behavior religious beliefs religious congregations religious denominations social activism social behavior social conflict social issues social support volunteers worship young adults youths ICPSR.XVII.B The current cumulative National Congregations Survey (NCS) includes Wave I and Wave II data. Wave I consists of interviews conducted in 1998, and Wave II consists of interviews conducted in 2006-07, including a panel component comprising re-interviews of a sample of congregations who participated in Wave I. The NCS elicited from respondents a description of their religious congregation, including its membership, the content of its worship service, and its other activities. NCS sample congregations were selected using hypernetwork sampling: respondents of the 1998 and 2006 General Social Survey (GSS) who said that they attended religious services at least once a year were asked to report the name and location of their congregation, as well as an informed contact person. These congregations comprised the sample for the current study. Interviews with congregational informants took place via telephone or in person if necessary, and most of the informants were clergy. Respondents were asked to describe their position, the year the congregation had been founded, when it began worshipping in its current location, and whether it was formally affiliated with a denomination or a local association of congregations. Informants also described the type of building in which the congregation met, whether it belonged to the congregation, and whether visitors came just to view the building's architecture or artwork. Respondents were asked for the number of members, participating nonmembers and full- and part-time staff, how many participated regularly, the number of worship services, and the demographic characteristics of members and the congregation's head or senior leader. They also described the worship service, including it's length, languages used, attendance, whether the congregation sang, engaged in silent prayer or meditation, applauded, used incense in the services, or worshipped jointly with another congregation, among other activities. Informants listed and described programs sponsored by the congregation other than the main worship services, including religious education classes, musical groups, groups meeting around social justice, neighborhood, or community issues, vacation or summer religious schools, and groups to help people with substance abuse problems. Informants indicated whether meetings for purposes such as discussing people's problems or concerns at work, praying or meditating, discussing race relations, or taking an overnight trip had occurred in the past 12 months. Respondents also described the congregation's participation in social service, community development, or neighborhood organizing projects such as disaster relief programs, programs for victims of rape or domestic violence, cleaning highways or parks, programs focused on physical health needs, and recreational programs. Information was given in regards to the congregation's budget, the source of its funding, and recipients of the congregation's funds. In addition, informants were asked to describe the congregation's political and theological leanings from "more on the conservative side" to "more on the liberal side," and whether the congregation had rules or norms governing certain behaviors. Finally, nearly all congregations were placed within a census tract, enabling the inclusion of selected census variables in the data file. 2009-11-17 survey data 3471 10.3886/ICPSR03471.v2 United States 1998 2006 ICPSR metadata records are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/).