A Cross-National Comparative Research of Values and Religiosity of Contemporary People : Focusing on the Asian Perspective

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This collaborative and comparative research team is comprised of the Field Survey and Qualitative Research Group (managed by Ohmura Eishou) and the Questionnaire Survey and Quantitative Research Group (managed by Manabe Kazufiuni). They have conducted the following researches.(1) They reviewed of the results of both theoretical and empirical studies previously conducted in Japan and abroad on values and religiosity, and collected, stored, and compiled the survey data, and related materials that produced those results.(2) They presented the methodological problems in this field of research, particularly the identification of the problem of equivalence with regard to how religiosity is observed and measured in multi-national comparative survey, and proposed methods of solving those problems.(3) They conducted field surveys (observations and interviews) in Hawaii and the west coast of the US, South Korea, Taiwan, Okinawa, and Northern Europe, particularly Sweden, focused on one of the contemporary and strategic problems in the field of research. These were done by examing religious feelings and behaviors, and exploring the ways people think about, feel about, and handle the human ashes created by the incleased use of cremation, animal funerals, embalming, and pet loss.(4) Based on these researches they planned, designed and implemented the questionnaire survey in Japan and Germany, and analyzed the survey data from a comparative perspective.