CARA
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The Parish Life 
Comparative Survey

Our Comparative Reports are our most detailed reports. They contain everything described in the Narrative Report with an additional comparison to the average from the other parishes CARA has worked with.  They also offer more analyses comparing parish groups.   

The process for conducting a survey with a Comparative Report consists of:
  • CARA and the parish work together to custom design a questionnaire of about 100 questions.
  • CARA provides the parish with copies of the questionnaire both electronically and as hardcopies. The parish produces enough copies of the questionnaire for all adults at the parish.
  • Typically, the parish distributes the questionnaire to all adults at the parish on a particular weekend and collects the completed surveys. For more information about the kinds of distribution and collection methods CARA recommends, please click here.
  • Within six weeks of receiving the surveys, CARA provides the parish with a Comparative Report, containing:
  1. Executive summary including key findings
  2. Summary of findings organized by areas of parish life
  3. Narrative describing themes in the data
  4. Tables and graphs depicting major findings
  5. Comparisons to national findings
  6. Comparisons with other CARA parish surveys
  7. Comparisons among generations of respondents
  8. Additional in-depth analyses for groups of parishioners or of issues identified by the parish
  9. Brief narrative describing survey methods
  10. Copy of the questionnaire showing the percentage that selected each response
Charges The base fee for a Parish Life Survey with a Comparative Report is $3,500. In addition, the parish is charged $1 per processed questionnaire. Translations of questionnaires into other languages and any transcriptions and/or analyses of open-ended questions are available for an extra fee.

Contact Melissa A. Cidade, M.A., Director of PASS
  Parish Life Comparative Survey
  Parish Life Narrative Survey
  Parish Data Sheet
  Parish Presentations and Consultations
  Focus Groups
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Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA)
Putting social science research at the service of the Church since 1964.

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CARA