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Overview
The Portrait of Americal Life Study (PALS) is an unprecedented panel study focused on religion in the U.S., with a particular focus on capturing ethnic and racial diversity. Features include:
• Survey conducted in 2006 and 2012
• Over 1300 interviews conducted with the same people
• Random sample of the American adult population
• Over 600 variables covering a broad range of topics
• Interviews averaged 75 minutes in length
• Timely issues.
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Results & Summaries
This easy to use Codebook allows users to view over 600 variables as grouped in 31 different modules. Features include:
• Complete wording of the interview questions
• Summaries of the number of times each response was given
• Comparisons of two variables
• Graphical depictions with pie and bar charts
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Researchers
For researchers interested in going beyond the summaries, more extensive data and documentation is available for their reference. Features include:
• Public data downloading
• Restricted-use data policy
• Documentation
• Sampling and Data Collection Methodology
• Publications
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Religious Leaders
With a special emphasis to support Religious Leaders, this section provides findings and statistics for about a dozen topics. Features include:
• Tables and charts
• Discussion of the findings
• Invitation to comment about the findings and their implications
• Resources
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Press & Media
For members of the Press & Media, we want to support their efforts to uncover trends in American society, especially those connections between religious change and other forms of change among diverse people. Features include:
• Research team
• Who to contact
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Portraits of American Life Study
Hosted by The ARDA
 
The PALS seeks to understand the impact of religion in everyday life, and ultimately the connections between religious change and other forms of change among diverse individuals and families over the course of their lives. |
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 PALS News & Updates2012 Data Now Available
In 2012, PALS respondents were interviewed once again, providing up-to-date information and allowing for the study of change. Several new data sets—for 2012, for 2006, and for the merged 2006-2012—are now available.
New Reports Available
The PALS team has written several reports based on the new data, examining some of the key findings. Read More.
On-Line Ordering of Restricted Data Now Available
The PALS team has created a large set of restricted variables than can be used to create more nuanced study of topics. We are pleased to announce that subsets of these variables can now be purchased on-line. Read More.
2012 Best Student Paper Award
Nicholas Vargas of Purdue University was awarded the 2012 "Best Student Graduate Student Paper Award" from the American Sociological Association's section on the Sociology of Religion for his article "Retrospective Accounts of Religious Disaffiliation in the U.S.: Stressors, Skepticism, and Political Factors" published in the Summer 2012 issue of Sociology of Religion. Drawing upon findings from Wave 1 PALS data, Vargas examines four key issues involved with considering and actually leaving religion. READ MORE
New Partner/Spouse Data Now Available
Newly released partner/spouse data from the 2006 PALS interviews is now publicly available. Topics include social activities, close relationships, employment, volunteering, political views, health, and religious beliefs and practices. READ MORE.
Gratitude to Our Sponsors
The research team would like to express their gratitude to the Lilly Endowment for its support of this project. Rice University and the University of Notre Dame provide additional funding. Only through their support are we able to continue this ongoing study of American society.
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Copyright © PALS. The ARDA. All Rights Reserved.
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landscape of the United States, all the way down to the neighborhood level. You can even generate a summary report using a variety of options.
Explore congregational membership across the United States. These data are provided by the