| Sumario: | The Presbyterian Panel consists of approximately 4,000 Presbyterians who have agreed to respond to an ongoing mail survey during a three-year period beginning in January, 1982. The Panel was modified in January, 1984 to include former members of the PCUS. The Panel includes five groups of Presbyterians: church members; elders; pastors; specialized clergy serving in ministries of the PC and specialized clergy serving in non-PC related situations. The reliability of these procedures is modified to some extent by other factors such as the accuracy of church membership lists and the cooperation of persons involved in the sampling process. Since one do not know in detail the characteristics of Presbyterians in each region, one can only assume that these procedures produced as representative a sample as possible, taking into consideration the factors mentioned. above. One do have reason to suspect that the Panel may under represent church members in the youngest age group as well as the least active of the church members. These sampling biases should be taken into consideration in the interpretation of relevant Panel data.
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