RE: Psychological research - Atheists, Christians and quality of life
February 24, 2013 at 11:49 am
(This post was last modified: February 24, 2013 at 11:52 am by rozle27.)
(February 24, 2013 at 11:15 am)paulpablo Wrote: i think the problem with the test is that the purpose is stated from the begining
That is a good point. I tried to write an introduction which informs the participants what the research is dealing with, without giving away too much detail. The ethics board is big on the idea of "informed consent" and not hiding too much from the participants.
Thanks for answering honestly though!
(February 24, 2013 at 2:40 am)missluckie26 Wrote: I think it'd be cool for a study to be done on these happiness and outlook levels before and after conversion or deconversion? And also compare that to baseline lifelong athiests?
Because when I was a believer I was told via theistic outlook along with evident societal representation, that athiests are unhappy. But whenever I would see them in my daily life, they would be quite the opposite.
I wish science could dispel all the illusions put out there through bias.
Oh please do post the results btw, I'm sorta interested
That would be an interesting study, but I imagine it might not be all that reliable to ask people to try and remember their happiness levels before conversion/deconversion. They might give a skewed answer depending on their happiness at that point in time.
I do think it's a good idea though, and you should read some of the research on the happiness of atheistic and theistic individuals. It's quite fascinating! Particularly, as you say, the difference between how things really are, and how some individuals claim they are.
I will post the results once they're complete, that's no problem.
