not reachable( did not respond to phone or personal contacts, or had ceased to operate), we reached out to the next randomly selected alternative, repeating the process described above. Overall the number of congregations that were reached but declined to participate was very low.
Most interviews were conducted with the congregation’ s senior clergy; key staff and assistant clergy were also interviewed. Each interview lasted an average of two and a half hours. Given the comprehensiveness of the data gathered, most congregations could not provide everything needed on the first visit; additional visits, emails, and phone calls were made to complete the data collection.
Data Gathering and Analysis
Data were gathered and centralized at Partners for Sacred Places’ office. A designated employee, in consultation with Dr. Cnaan, reviewed the data and flagged potential errors, logical doubts, and misstatements. These cases were verified with the people who provided the data and numbers were revised if needed. This careful review of all submitted questionnaires prevented Partners from using erroneous, inflated, or under-reported data.
Once data were collected and verified, the designated staff entered them into a spreadsheet. At that stage the raw data was translated into dollar value based on a procedure that was predetermined and based on the methodology developed in the pilot study. When calculations were completed they were aggregated into an overall valuation estimate and into the key Halo categories. Dr. Cnaan and his staff performed the detailed data analysis presented in this article.
Conservative Approach in Applying Valuation Methodology
When an interviewee could not provide a numerical response to a particular question or category, we assigned the value of zero, even if the real value was obviously higher. For example, if an interviewee could not provide data on the number of hours a volunteer spent with a soup kitchen, we assigned a value of zero. In the same way, when an interviewee could not assess the market value of a good or service, we assigned the value of zero. For example, if the interviewee could not assess the market value of renting an equivalent space outside the sacred place for a social service program, we assigned it the value of zero, even if the real value was likely to be significant.
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