view cart 
|
If you are a journalist and have a question about a LifeWay Research finding or one of the items on our web site, please contact a member of the Media Relations team within LifeWay’s corporate communications office. We encourage you to reproduce and distribute any of our free content provided that the unaltered content is reproduced in its entirety including identifying information. |
Previous Press Releases:
- Ed Stetzer to direct LifeWay Research June 1, 2007
Listen to Stetzer, President of LifeWay Christian Resources Thom Rainer, and Vice President Brad Waggoner discuss the future of LifeWay Research. - LifeWay, NAMB And IMB Forge Collaborative Research Effort
- Collaborative research effort offers opportunity for stewardship, cultural relevance
- About Ed Stetzer
- LifeWay Research Prepares Initial Studies
- Southern Seminary Dean Tapped To Help Lead LifeWay Research
About LifeWay Research
To learn more about LifeWay Research, please click on one of the questions below.
1. What is the purpose of LifeWay Research?
2. What topics will LifeWay Research address?
4. How can I be sure the findings are accurate?
5. How do I cite LifeWay Research findings in my work?
6. May I share LifeWay Research content?
8. I have a suggestion for a future research project for LifeWay Research. How can I submit it?
9. I have a comment/criticism regarding one of your findings. How can I share my opinion with you?
1. What is the Purpose of LifeWay Research?
LifeWay Research was launched by Dr. Thom S. Rainer and LifeWay Christian Resources for the purpose of assisting and equipping church leaders with insight and advice that will lead to greater levels of church health and effectiveness.
2. What Topics Will LifeWay Research Address?
The following categories of research topics reflect areas that LifeWay Research has in mind as we plan future research projects:
| Church | Culture |
| Church Leaders | The Churched | The Unchurched |
| Church leadership | Attitudes | Attitudes |
| Theological issues | Beliefs | Beliefs |
| Church practices | Practices/behaviors | Practices/behaviors |
| Ethnic/multicultural issues | ||
| Outreach/ evangelism/ missions |
||
| Worship | ||
| Discipleship | ||
| Emerging trends |
Ed Stetzer Ed Stetzer has planted churches in New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia and transitioned declining churches in Indiana and Georgia. He has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books. Ed served for three years as a seminary professor at the Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and has taught at fifteen other seminaries. He is currently the Director of Lifeway Research and Lifeway’s Missiologist in Residence.
He has written the following books:
Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age (2003),
Perimeters of Light: Biblical Boundaries for the Emerging Church (w/ Elmer Towns, 2004),
Breaking the Missional Code (w/ David Putman, 2006),
Planting Missional Churches (2006),
Comeback Churches (with Mike Dodson, 2007),
11 Innovations in the Local Church (with Elmer Towns and Warren Bird, 2007), and
Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living (with Philip Nation, 2008)
Scott McConnell is the associate director of LifeWay Research.
Since joining LifeWay in 1996, McConnell has researched church practices, needs, and preferences to support product development and communications decisions. McConnell served as manager of Market Research and Intelligence for the Church Resources division of LifeWay Christian Resources since 2001.
McConnell, a native of Minnesota, received a Bachelors of Science degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
4. How can I be sure the findings are accurate?
The accuracy of research depends on rigorously following proven methods of reducing error in sampling, response, and questionnaire design.
Sampling
The basics of sampling are obvious: sample among those you are trying to describe and don’t introduce bias.
This is achieved by sampling randomly. Randomness of who is asked to participate eliminates biases that arise using other selection methods. However, this is not convenient, easy, or cheap. A convenience sample of only the readers of a particular magazine, or only those who visit your website will only describe those unique populations. They do not represent all magazine readers or all internet users, much less all churches or all Americans. Convenience samples may save time or money, but they cannot describe the full population of the groups of church leaders, laity, or the unchurched that we seek to research.
Sampling is the one type of error that can be measured statistically. For example, we may state that a sample has a margin of error of +5% at the 95% confidence interval. This simply means if we repeated this study with a random sample 100 times, 95 of those times we would get answers not more than 5% higher or lower than the findings we are reporting. Sampling error never is completely eliminated. However a sample of sufficient size reduces the sampling error to the point we are confident that the differences in answers are real and not a function of how respondents were selected.
LifeWay Research uses proven methods of sampling that ensure that the various audiences we frequently describe reflect their population. When we utilize “panels” (individuals who have agreed to participate in surveys), we have ensured that the invitation to participate in the panel has previously been extended to all or a randomly selected subset of the population we are seeking to survey. Surveys conducted by phone or mail are conducted with random samples selected at the time of the survey.
Response
Response bias occurs when portions of the randomly sampled population systematically do not respond. LifeWay Research uses various techniques to reduce and to measure the presence of “known” bias. Incentives are offered to those completing a survey as one means of encouraging reluctant respondents to participate. Another is contacting those in the random sample more than once seeking their participation. When we discover a response bias that impacts the use of a finding, LifeWay Research will state this in our findings.
Questionnaire Design
Wording and sequence of questions within a survey can influence response. LifeWay Research utilizes experienced survey writers who can navigate many of these pitfalls based on prior experience. Surveys are reviewed by multiple researchers to search for potential problem spots. For new topics, a pre-test is conducted to ensure that wording used is understandable among the respondents who will complete the survey.
5. How do I cite LifeWay Research findings in my work?
If you are publishing or presenting a single finding in the form of a quote or reference, you simply need to state that LifeWay Research is the source and the date the study was conducted. For example, “44% of Protestant Pastors indicate that they regularly ..." (LifeWay Research, October 2006). A more complete note would include either the title of the article or the URL that links directly to the data on the site.
6. May I share LifeWay Research content?
We encourage you to reproduce and distribute any of our free content provided that the unaltered content is reproduced in its entirety including identifying information.
7. I am a journalist and I have a question about a LifeWay Research finding or one of the items on your web site. Who can I contact?
Please contact a member of the Media Relations Team within LifeWay’s corporate communications office.
8. I have a suggestion for a future research project for LifeWay Research. How can I submit it?
LifeWay Research welcomes input that helps us understand what information church leaders are seeking to assist them in their ministry. Email your ideas to LifeWay Research.
9. I have a comment/criticism regarding one of your findings. How can I share my opinion with you?
LifeWay Research understands that not everyone who reads or listens to our insights or advice will agree with the findings or their application. Please remember that our data is from carefully selected samples that represent the people or churches each research project is designed to describe. If you desire to share your opinion with us, please email LifeWay Research and a LifeWay Research employee will read and consider your feedback as we continue to serve church leaders through relevant information and insights.