The Situation
You work for a company that measures public opinion and other ideas that can be surveyed. You recently began work at this company after graduating from college with a major in statistics and a minor in religious studies. Your company has operations in China and has been subcontracted to survey Chinese religious attitudes. The last time around, the survey of worldwide religious attitudes left China out owing to insufficient data—a major omission considering China is the world’s most populous country, with the second largest GDP in the world. Your Task You have been asked to evaluate and comment on 5 proposed survey questions to assess religious beliefs and attitudes in China.
The 5 proposed questions are:
1. Do you believe in God?
2. How often do you attend religious services or meetings?
3. Do you agree that social law should be based on or derive from Divine law?
4. Do you socialize with people whose religion is different from your own?
5. What is your religion?
Evaluate each question, explaining in 2 sentences per question why each of these questions is problematic. In the course of criticizing each question, demonstrate your knowledge of several key features of Chinese religious culture.