Belief system awareness at UW-Stout

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate an awareness level of belief systems of the faculty, staff, students and alumni from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, Wisconsin. This is the first step toward understanding others’ belief systems, which can lead to tolerance and acceptance of each individual’s own belief system. An electronic survey of 44 questions was conducted as a means to collect data for this study. The survey was distributed to 464 subjects whose names were found on the UW-Stout email directory. A total of 61 responses were received. The response rate was 13 percent. Survey results were collected by the researcher and examined using percentages, means and standard deviation. It was concluded through this survey that the respondents are aware of their own belief systems. This was determined by the fact that the majority of respondents did not answer “don’t know” to the majority of questions. Although most are aware of their own belief systems, they are not as aware that other populations hold equal valid belief systems. It was also found that most respondents thought that they themselves or their parents most greatly influenced their individual belief systems. In addition the respondents were somewhat tolerant of others’ belief systems. The research was limited because the sample population was small. Eighty-two percent of the respondents stated Christianity as their preferred religion, and 90 percent were Caucasian, however the world’s Christian population is reportedly 33 percent and the world’s Caucasian population is 25 percent. Possible future studies would be to include a larger sample group and to ask questions with narrow objective.