Publication Date

1959

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Burchard, Waldo W.||Smith, Harold E. (Harold Eugene), 1916-2010

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Social Sciences

LCSH

Students--Religious life; Northern Illinois University--Religion

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper, of course, was the satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Education but there may be some question as to the reasons for my choosing to do a survey as the basis of the paper and for my particular choice of "religious attitudes” as a topic. The answer to the first point is simple enough. A the time that I was to choose a topic for master’s qualifying paper it occurred to me that my knowledge of survey techniques and original research work was considerably limited. I felt that various term papers required throughout my college career had given me experience with the usual type of undergraduate research methods, that is, with the gleaning of information from written records, but there had been no opportunity for me to ever, as it were, survey the living facts in order to make my written records. So it was that I chose to do a survey, an experience which I felt would be altogether now to me in its educational aspects. The topic of religious attitudes as a basis for the survey was not a difficult choice for me to make. This general topic had already been one of deep personal interest to me for a considerable period of time. As with most people of college age, views on religion had been questions of burning interest with me throughout the college years, and I realized how great also was the interest of my fellow college students on this topic. But besides personal interest there were more objective considerations which led me to my particular choice of topic. In my elected field of sociology a popular use of the "survey technique" is in the field of attitude testing. Religion, of course, is one of the most prominent of the "attitudes" and, more important, one in which a great deal of difference exists. It therefore became an ideal subject for a survey. And then too, it must be admitted, considerations touching on the ultimate use of a survey based on this topic were not entirely absent from my mind at the time of my choice. To my knowledge, no such survey had yet been attempted on this campus and I had, and still have, hopes of contributing a beginning to larger attempts in this field. There was also the possibility to be considered that such a survey could be of personal use to individual college students wishing to know their situation as compared with the norm in religious attitudes. I certainly hoped at the time that such a survey would have value for someone other than myself. Now that all of the many hours of work are over, my hopes on this point are all the greater... This survey was given in the spring of 1956. The pressures of teaching and my "untimely" induction into the U. S. Army delayed the completion of this thesis until the present time.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

144 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

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