What do Americans really think about issues such as evolution, abortion and the mix of religion and politics?
The answers can be difficult to discern and report amid the plethora of survey results that seem to come to contradictory conclusions, particularly when framed by policy advocates on all sides seeking to claim a national mandate for their position.
Fortunately, journalists, scholars and the general public have a new tool to determine what trends are emerging as a national consensus on controversial topics in religion, and which findings may be the results of loaded questions or a lack of context.
The Measurement Wizard provided by the Association of Religion Data Archives allows users to browse available ARDA data from some 7,700 questions asked in more than 750 major national and international surveys to see for themselves the major findings on hot-topic issues in religion and public life.
The new resource allowing individuals to quickly compare and analyze survey findings on 114 topics in the news is but one of many ways ARDA allows users to provide in-depth reporting with deadline access to the best national and international data on religion.
The ARDA’s search engine provides users with quality survey data on topics in religion submitted by the foremost religion scholars and research centers in the world, along with citations to research articles on the topic and other features such as QuickStats and definitions that offer a comprehensive overview.
The ARDA National Profiles provide resources from religion demographics to public attitudes on faith issues to measures of religious freedom in nations throughout the world. Other features allow users to Compare Nations and Compare Regions on key religion data.
And Ahead of the Trend columns provide in-depth reporting on the latest news in religion research. These columns are available to be shared with respected news, academic and religion sites.
In a world where information is often used for partisan ends, the ARDA is dedicated to democratizing access to the finest data on religion. ARDA data includes all the relevant information about who conducted the study and how it was conducted.