Interviewer instructions
Question C10
[The enumeration form is not presented here.]
Purpose
The purpose of this question is for collecting information relating to the religion of each person.
Definition
Religion is the identification or relationship of an individual to a set or system of beliefs and the practice of those beliefs.
How to ask the question
Ask the question as follows:
"What is the religion of ____ (member's name)?"
How to record the answer
In general, accept the answer given by the respondent and do not attempt to make any guesses.
It is possible for members in one household to belong to different religion.
A person who considers his religion as "Confucianism" or "Taoism", or traditional Chinese religion such as practicing ancestor worship, should be categorized as "Confucianism/Taoism/other traditional Chinese religions" (Code 5) and should not be recorded as "Others" (Code 7).
[p.125]
For Chinese, you may come across those who practice a few religious beliefs such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, ancestor worship, etc. For such cases, you should leave to the respondent to decide which one of the categories he selects for question C10.
The category "Others" in for those who belong to religions which are not classified under any of the given categories, for example, the "Bahai" religion.
"No religions" refers to persons who say that they do not have any religious beliefs.
It should be remembered that it is possible for a person to have religion which is not represented by an organized group. For example, worship of spirits or natural element is common practice among tribal group, e.g., the orang asli. Thus, this practice should be considered a religion and be recorded as "Tribal/folk religion".
You may sometimes encounter a problem in deciding whether an answer given by the respondent is a separate religion or a sub-group of two major religions. If in doubt, ask the respondent for further details. For example, the answer "Catholic" should be classified as "Christianity" (Code 2). Groups such as "Hare Krishnan" and "Sai Baba" should be classified as "Hinduism" (Code 3).
