On behalf of World Relief, we would like to invite you to participate in a study on faith, immigrants, and immigration conducted by Dr. Ruth Melkonian-Hoover of Gordon College and her research team.
You are part of a congregation that would like to learn more about these issues. This survey will take approximately 15 – 20 minutes.
Purpose of the study: The attitudes of Christians about immigrants and immigration are quite complex and diverse. This research study aims to understand the range of opinions on these topics within Christian communities. We are interested in learning not only what you believe, but also why you believe what you do, in your own words.
How it works: This survey offers many ways in which you can express your opinions; it provides a wide range of alternative attitudes that you can choose to identify or not identify with. Additionally, there are multiple open-ended spaces for you to share distinct opinions and ideas that may not have already been expressed in the survey. Some questions are derived from previous national surveys to enable comparison with national findings; we hope you are not put off by the wording of those questions. To be clear, this study does not presume to already know exactly where you are coming from or why; the hope is that through this survey, every participant will have the chance to share where he or she stands.
Confidentiality: Your participation in this research is voluntary. You have the right to decline to participate or withdraw at any time, even after starting the survey. You can also decline to answer any individual questions without explanation. All your responses will be kept confidential. We are using a secure system to collect this data. While we can't completely eliminate risk of hacking, we are minimizing risk by identifying you with a number only in our records. Anonymous findings will be shared with participating congregations in the aggregate and used for academic research purposes. No identifying facts about you or your congregation will appear when we present this study or publish its results.*
Risks and benefits: There are no expected risks or discomforts associated with participating in this survey. You will not be compensated in return for your participation. You will not be compensated in return for participation. However, as a thank you for completing the survey, we will offer you an e-course on faith and immigration by Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
If you agree to the above, please give your consent with our first question, and begin the survey.
On behalf of the World Relief research team,
Ruth Melkonian-Hoover, PhD
Principal Investigator, World Relief Research Initiative
Professor, Political Science, Gordon College
* If you have questions about this study, please feel free to email me: ruth.melkonian@gordon.edu
World Relief Research Initiative Team
Damon Schroeder, US Mobilization Director, World Relief dschroeder@wr.org
Alan Cross, Pastor, Doctoral Candidate, Fuller Seminary, across@bbbimmigration.org
Wayne Denny, Church and CE Director, World Relief Memphis, wdenny@wr.org
Stacy Keogh George, Assoc Professor, Sociology, Whitworth University, sgeorge@whitworth.edu
Jamie Goodwin, Asst Professor, Humanitarian Disaster Institute, Wheaton College, Jamie.goodwin@wheaton.edu
Ryan Klejment-Lavin, Assoc Professor, Intercultural studies, Columbia International University, ryan.klejment-lavin@ciu.edu
Terry McGonigal, Former Dean of Spiritual Life, Whitworth University, tmcgonical@whitworth.edu