20th World Youth Day in Cologne - Participant Survey (2005)

Attitude towards faith and the Catholic Church. Faith practice. Questions about World Youth Day. Media communication.

Topics: 1. Attitude towards faith and the Catholic Church: self-assessment of religiosity; belief in a life after death; influence of religion and faith on everyday actions; religious practice: frequency of praying, reading the Bible and meditating; greater interest of young people in religion or the Catholic Church. Questions of faith more than it appears (religious spiral of silence); frequency of attending church services; lasting positive influence of e.g. family, friends, etc. on the personal relationship with the church; attitude towards the Roman Catholic Church as an institution; contact with the parish; function in the parish; type of function; activity in youth work; area of youth work (sport, politics, church (association, grouping), other).

2. Questions about the World Youth Day: Earlier participation in a World Youth Day; frequency of participation; visit of the World Youth Day alone or accompanied (friends, youth group of the parish, others); members of the group already known beforehand; image of the Pope (e.g. head of the Catholic Church, infallible, representative of God on earth, role model, etc.).); importance of the Pope´s participation in World Youth Day; participation in World Youth Day even without the Pope´s participation; importance of international meetings at World Youth Day; importance of various elements of the program (catechesis, welcome celebration with the Pope, sacrament of reconciliation, youth festival, Way of the Cross, pilgrimage, vigil, closing service with the Pope); previous experiences at the World Youth Day (part of a living faith community of Catholic Christians, most important religious community experience, extra-ordinary life, community feeling); personal motivation for participation in the World Youth Day (for examplee.g. traveling together with friends, experiencing many young Christians, making new friends, etc.).

3. Media communication: sources of information about World Youth Day; credibility of reporting; communication with third parties about World Youth Day reports in the media; interlocutors; mobile phone ownership at World Youth Day; purpose of mobile phone use; general mobile phone ownership; frequency of mobile phone use for: Telephoning, sending SMS, chatting, photographing and filming videos; frequency of use of different media; source of information about the Global Village; frequency of visits to the Global Village; membership in the Catholic Rural Youth Movement; knowledge of the Catholic Rural Youth Movement; activity in environmental protection; institution named; motivation for visiting the Global Village; visited offers of the Global Village (Energiebauernhof, climate expedition, MIJARC tent, others).

Participants from Energiebauernhof, climate expedition and MIJARC tent were additionally asked: Positive food for thought on the topics preservation of the environment (Energiebauernhof), climate change (Klimaexpedition) and international solidarity (MIJARC Tent) through the visit; evaluation of the visit as a special experience; participation in one of the actions; actions mentioned.

Demography: sex; age; current occupation; job title; highest school-leaving certificate or current type of school attended; denomination; marital status; federal state.