Sampling and Respondent Selection

The nature of this research requires online activity on the part of the respondent. Thus, an online survey was put up to start off the respondent selection. A series-type questionnaire

was designed via Google Docs with the following questions and pattern.

An introduction page reads as follows: “Peace be with you! My name is Jacqueline from

the NCCU Masters in International Communication Studies program. Like you, I am a

foreign student too. Apart from the many challenges of coping with daily life in a foreign land, one other issue I face is how to meet my spiritual needs in a new environment. So I'm presently doing research on the use of online religious content by foreign students in the hopes of understanding this issue more. Below are five simple questions for the interview

selection. It would only take less than 2 minutes of your time. Thank you very much!”

The first two questions were on the front page: “What country are you from?” and “How long have you been in Taiwan?” On the second page is the third question: “What is your

religion? Buddhism / Christianity / Hinduism / Islam / Other ________________” The series

splits after this question, depending on the answers.

If the answer were “Christian”, the respondents would be referred to a page with: “What

branch or denomination do you belong to or best fits your beliefs?” followed by: “Do you attend or go to a church here in Taiwan?” If the answer is “Yes”, the respondent would be directed to the page: “What church do you attend or go to?” If the answer is “No,” the

question about the church is skipped.

The following pages are the final set of questions wherein all those who answered the survey (including those who answered “Buddhism / Hinduism / Islam / Other”) would be directed to. The questions are: “Do you go online for religious or spiritual purposes?”

followed by: “Would you be willing to be interviewed for my thesis project? Interview would

take around an hour at the participant's convenience. If yes, please leave your name and

contact number at the space below.” Following that is the closing remark page: “Thank you

very much for your time and participation!”

Other demographic qualifications such as age and sex were not asked in the survey as they are deemed secondary factors in the objectives of this study.

The above survey was posted in October 2012 and was up for three months until January 2013. Entitled “Survey on the Online Use of Religious Content”, the survey was

posted on the facebook pages of this researcher, the National Chengchi University (NCCU) International Association group page, the NCCU International Youth, the Foreign Students in Taiwan group page, the National Taiwan Normal University Mandarin Training Center group page, Filipino Scholars in Taiwan group page, and the Lupon ng Mga Magaaral sa (Group of Students) Taiwan group page. A snowballing effect is highly possible as friends and friends of friends have responded to the appeal of sharing the survey link on their personal facebook pages. In addition, the survey link was also distributed through the email bank of the NCCU Office of International Cooperation, the NCCU division which handles foreign students. An attempt to reach out to other university foreign students was also tried as the researcher sent emails with the link to the survey embedded to the international offices of other universities in Taiwan: National Cheng Kung University, National Sun Yat Sen University, National Jiatong University, Tunghai University, National Tsinghua University, and National Taiwan

Normal University. However, whether or not the survey successfully reached the target audience is beyond the confirmation of the researcher.

A total of 309 respondents from 69 countries filled out the survey. One hundred

thirty-five (135) respondents said that they go online for religious or spiritual resources, while

the rest, one hundred seventy-four (174), answered in the negative. Fifty-four (54)

respondents referred to themselves as either “atheist” or “agnostic”, or wrote down “nothing”,

“no religion”, “not religious”, “all of the above” or versions of “my own” on the space for

religious belief. Thirty-four (34) respondents referred to their religion as “Buddhism”, eight (8) as “Hinduism”, one hundred sixty-two (162) as “Christianity”, and forty-five (45) as

“Islam”. Three respondents (3) wrote “Taosim”, one (1) wrote “Universalist”, one (1) wrote

“Judaism”, while another one (1) wrote “Sikhism”.

From this respondent population, twelve participants for the in-depth interview were

chosen based on the following criteria. The first qualification, by the nature of this research on online religion, is the respondent’s positive use of online religious content. The first stage

cuts the sample to 135 respondents. Secondly, since every religion has its own set of idiosyncratic dynamics, focusing on one religion, in this case Christianity, is chosen. This second stage cuts the sample to 74.

The third step involves choosing a denomination that is closely-knit to Protestantism as this leans closer to the objectives of the research in obtaining data from active online users of

religious content. The nature of Protestant Christianity is contrary to the more traditional and institutional beliefs of Catholicism, emphasizing instead on a personal relationship with God, therefore more patterns of personal engagements through technology-based religious media are seen. Comparatively, Protestantism is considered more free than more heavily

institutionalized forms of Christianity such as Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy wherein

there are prescribed rules for individual behavior. (Lavrič & Flere, 2010)

This stage cuts the sample to 61. The next criterion is the respondent’s willingness to be

interviewed. This stage cuts the sample to 33. This researcher then got in touch with these respondents through email to verify the respondents’ qualifications as foreign students in

Taiwan. Other respondents, although they expressed willingness to be interviewed in the earlier online survey, either later turned down or did not respond at all to the emails and follow-up emails sent. On this last stage of respondent selection, the sample gets cut down to 12 participants with whom this researcher made individual appointments for the interview.

A resource person was also interviewed to shed light on the issues raised in the interviews with the foreign students. He was chosen from the online survey based on his availability, willingness to be interviewed, and qualification as a foreign missionary here in Taiwan.