Patterns in the Responses of Zoroastrians, 1976

In Research Paper 1976 survey of Zoroastrians in the UK

In approaching the analysis of this data set patterns were looked for in the responses to the questionnaire. For each question asked about religious practice, belief or attitude there was a range of responses. In order to look for a pattern in this range, a series of statistical analyses was conducted using the appropriate SPSS programs.  The variables and scales were correlated with independent demographic, socio-economic variables from the total data set.

The analysis demonstrated that the type of marital partner (Zoroastrian/ non Zoroastrian) of the respondents had the highest number of statistically significant measured associations with Zoroastrian religious practices, beliefs and values. The demographic and socio-economic variables which were associated with the type of marital partner by the means of linear regression techniques. These variables gave an explained variance of thirty three per cent and the best predictor of the type of marital partner was whether the respondent was educated in the UK or abroad. The relationship between the variables is shown in Table 56, Gender to Occupation with Marriage Partner. Statistical techniques were used to see which independent variables were statistically significant predictors of the dependent variable, Marriage Partner: Non-Zoroastrian/ Zoroastrian.

Table 56

 

Looking at Table 56 it can be seen that when zero-order relationships were considered, the best predictors were Education: UK/ Abroad, (r = .21), Father's Occupation, (r = .17), and Gender, (r = .16).  The independent action of the variables indicated that, Education: UK/ Abroad, (beta = .16), Mother's Occupation: Professional- Housewife, (beta = .15), and Gender, (beta = .14), were the best predictors. The difference between the two types of statistical analysis is due to the fact that in using zero-order relationships one is incorporating the effects of all the variables into the relationship. For example, the variable Country of Origin where, (r = .08), but (beta = .10).

 

For a break down of the betas, see Table 57, where only (4%) of the variance was explained with the introduction of the variable, Country of Origin, into the regression equation.

Table 57

Stepwise introduction of the other variables increased the explained variance from (4%) to (33%). Education: UK/ Abroad, (beta = .16), was the best predictor of Marriage Partner: Non-Zoroastrian/ Zoroastrian, followed by Mother's Occupation (beta = .15), Gender, (beta = .14), and Father's Occupation: Professional- Working Class, (beta = .12). Occupation was not a statistically significant independent predictor of Marriage Partner: Non-Zoroastrian/ Zoroastrian, (beta = .03).

The variable Education: UK/ Abroad was associated with the respondent's religious practices and beliefs. The religious beliefs, practices and values of Zoroastrianism were then analysed using factor analysis techniques. Two different scales for measuring different aspects of Zoroastrianism were built which were Attitudes to the Zoroastrian Religion and Attitudes to the Symbolic Boundaries of Zoroastrianism. The variables included in the scale Attitudes to Zoroastrian Religion are given below.

1.  Do you read Zoroastrian literature?

2.  Do you pray at home?

3.  Do you wear the Sudre/ Kusti?

4.  Do you describe yourself in religious terms?

5.  Do you observe a Zoroastrian religious calendar?

6.  Do you favour adoption of a single religious calendar?

7.  Do you attend Zoroastrian House?

The scale measured the actual practice of the religion as well as other aspects of religious values. A positive score on the scale indicated that the respondent took part in the actual practices of the religion as well as reading Zoroastrian literature, describing themselves in religious terms and having an opinion on the adoption of a single religious calendar. A negative score on the scale implied the opposite response from the respondent. The variables included in the scale Attitudes to the Symbolic Boundaries of Zoroastrianism are given below.

1.  Would you insist on a traditional burial?

2.  Do you approve of marriage to a non-Zoroastrian?

3.  Do you approve of conversion of non-Zoroastrian spouses?

 4. Do you approve of conversion of other non-Zoroastrians?

 5.  Are you in favour of initiation of children of bi-cultural marriages?

6.  Do you approve of non-Zoroastrians entering Fire Temples?

A positive score on the scale indicated an orthodox interpretation of the symbolic boundaries of Zoroastrianism:  the respondent insisted upon a traditional burial, did not approve of marriage to non- Zoroastrians or of conversion of any non-Zoroastrians or children of bi-cultural marriages or of non-Zoroastrians entering the Fire Temples. A negative score on the scale implied the converse of these responses. The scales were correlated with independent demographic and socio-economic variables from the total data set. The results are given in tabulated form in Tables 58 and 59. For the scale Attitudes to the Zoroastrian Religion, Table 58, the statistically significant variables were those of Education and Marriage Partner, followed by Longest Occupation. The variables Occupation and Gender were not statistically significant and therefore they appeared not to be relevant when determining UK Zoroastrians' attitudes to their religion.

Table 58
These results indicated that those Zoroastrians who were married to Zoroastrians were more supportive of the religious aspects of Zoroastrianism than those who were married to non-Zoroastrians. Similarly, those respondents who had received higher education abroad were more supportive of the religious aspects of Zoroastrianism than those respondents who had received their higher education in the UK. Those respondents who had worked longer abroad than in the UK exhibited positive scores on attitudes to the religious aspects of Zoroastrianism compared with those respondents who had worked longest in the UK. It would also appear that those respondents who were born outside the UK were more supportive of the religious aspects of Zoroastrianism than those who were born in the UK.

 

The scale Attitudes to Symbolic Boundaries of Zoroastrianism was correlated with demographic and socio- economic variables from the total data set. Looking at Table 59 it can be seen that the most statistically significant variables were Education and Occupation.

Table 59

 

 

These results suggest that those Zoroastrians who were educated abroad are most likely to support the orthodox interpretation of the symbolic boundaries of Zoroastrianism and those respondents who were high on the occupation scale were more likely to support the liberal interpretation of the symbolic boundaries of Zoroastrianism. The variables Marriage Partner, Country of Origin, Gender, Occupation: Longest were not statistically significant and seemed not to be relevant to an analysis of attitudes towards the symbolic boundaries of Zoroastrianism.