The Arts and Religion Survey, 1999

Research Question: If we know the family income (D13), how often the respondent attended religious services growing up (Q120), and the number of children (Q14) that the respondent has, can we predict the number of times the respondent has imagined god (Q136A)?

Sources of Data: Arts and Religion Survey, CPANDA

Summary of Statistical Procedure: Multiple regression is used to determine the predictability of the dependent variable (Q136A), the amount of time spent imagining god.

Findings:

SDA 1.4: Regression Arts and Religion Survey 1999 [United States]

Nov 05, 2006 (Sun 05:25 PM EST)

Variables Role Name Label Range MD Dependent Q136A Time imagining -- God 1-4 Independent D13 Income 1-9 Independent Q120 How often attend religious services growing up 1-6 Independent D14 Number of children 1-9 0,D

Regression Coefficients Test That Each Coefficient = 0 B SE(B) Beta SE(Beta) T-statistic Probability D13 .010 .008 .033 .025 1.314 .190 Q120 .087 .015 .144 .026 5.632 .000 D14 -.002 .011 -.006 .026 -.231 .817 Constant 1.523 .060 25.394 .000

Color coding: <-2.0 <-1.0 <0.0 >0.0 >1.0 >2.0 T Effect of each variable: Negative Positive

Multiple R = .148 R-Squared = .022 Std Error of Estimate = .731

Allocation of cases Valid cases 1,514 Cases with invalid codes on variables in the model 16 Total cases 1,530

t;CSM, UC Berkeley

Discussion of Findings: The multiple regression table shows a low correlation between the variables, making them not very useful for predicting the time spent imagining god. The regression formula is:

D13x.010 + Q120x.087 � D14x.002 + 1.523.

This means that if the respondent has an income of between $10,000 and $20,000 (D13=2), never attended religious services growing up (Q120=5), and has three children (D14=4), the respondent probably imagines god a little bit of the time (Q136A= 1.97. A little of the time = 2 in the variable list.

If the respondent has the same variables except they attended religious services every week growing up (Q120=1), the time spent trying to imagine god only increases to 1.62 - between frequnetly (Q136A=1) and a little bit of time (Q136A=2). I admit it would have been neat if this could have provided a reliable prediction.