spirituality research -have your say!

[Praxis]

Originally Posted by I_FH

Can't expect to much coming from the University of PE teachers....

That's unnecessary and not very welcoming to a new member undertaking research.

Consider this an official Mod Note to pull your head in.

Thank you.

[Loki]

From the first link on a simple search for "spirituality";

Originally Posted by Wiki

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality;[1] an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the "deepest values and meanings by which people live."[2] Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life; spiritual experience includes that of connectedness with a larger reality, yielding a more comprehensive self; with other individuals or the human community; with nature or the cosmos; or with the divine realm.[3] Spirituality is often experienced as a source of inspiration or orientation in life.[4] It can encompass belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world.

Would you not agree that your survey takes on a completely different complexion depending on whether spirituality is seen as "the feeling of awe one might get looking at the night sky" or "the presence of and our interaction with an immaterial reality"? I can happily subscribe to the first example yet find the second laughable, were you intending to lump all positive responses into a single category? How could you not as the definition applied by each respondent would be unknown to you.

I find literal translations valuable when trying to express concepts, the world and it's origin is literally not related to the variability of life. One is cosmology, the other is biology.

Survey questions should not be ambiguous, or worse, open to two opposing interpretations.

This is not meant to be a blanket pooh poohing of the survey. It's better than a lot we get through here, and many may be happy to take it. It's just not something I will do in it's present state.

[I_FH]

@mods
Noted. Although I wasn't intending to be as hostile as I came across.

[Rogerb]

Originally Posted by Loki

It's just not something I will do in it's present state.

+1
Fix the survey & I'll be happy to complete it.

[Xeno]

I skipped questions where there were no available reasonable answers but the survey protested so I gave up. One that was difficult was how often to I talk to people about my "world view". Should I answer "every day" or "on average, in one year in twenty"?

[JohnFisher]

Loki, if you provide your best interpretation of each word, you might be surprised at how your responses will correlate with others to form a clear picture. My spiritual well-being questionnaire is more sensitive than many others in a number of areas, but I do not want to comment on what they are because some people provide answers that they think the researcher might want to hear. I apologise if this is keeping you in the dark, so to speak, but I want other people's views to see if they hold to the existing pattern, without disclosing what that is.

[JohnFisher]

Xeno, I need people to choose the closest answer to their opinion. I know this is not perfect, but statistically it evens out in the end, when a large group is studied. You can go back and finish the survey at another time if you wish.

[Xeno]

Originally Posted by JohnFisher

Xeno, I need people to choose the closest answer to their opinion. I know this is not perfect, but statistically it evens out in the end, when a large group is studied.

Sorry JF but that is bullshit. If the question is ambiguous, or the question biasses interpretation, then the question is crap and any number of answers will not "statistically" resolve the problem of a crap question producing crap results. Returning to complete the questions would be to support bad (biassed) research.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

Perhaps spirituality is useful after all.

[JohnFisher]

Xeno, I would like you to explain in what way the questions are biassed.