This week I ran a text search of the hundreds of thousands of pages of historical material stored on my laptop, looking for the word “survey.” It shows up a lot, in the 20th century. University professors, within and without the Church, hoped to access the results of sociological surveys taken by the Church. Seminary and Institute teachers, working on their own advanced degrees, sought permission to survey Latter-day Saint classes as part of their degree work.

I found indications that Church leaders have studied surveys as an important tool for identifying problems and gauging success within the Church. In 1925, for instance, the Relief Society General Presidency, preparing for their Board’s annual visits to stakes throughout the Church, noted that “a recent survey of certain colleges has revealed the fact that a small proportion of the student body ever attend Church of any kind.” The same survey – one of the United States as a whole, not specifically of Latter-day Saints – noted that “Boys and girls drop out of Sunday School at the age of twelve. At fourteen, twenty-five percent are gone; at twenty-one, ninety-two percent are gone.” The Relief Society used these findings to encourage a study of the gospel in the home, to make up for what young people might not be getting from other sources.

In 1950, John A. Widtsoe reported to a group of mission presidents the results of a survey taken “some years ago among 800 elders” – a significant proportion of missionaries in the field whether the survey was made in the 1930s or 1940s. “The results were startling,” he said. “One half came because father and mother wanted them to. From twenty-five to thirty-five percent came to see the world. Five percent wanted to preach the gospel.” One of the lessons Elder Widtsoe drew from those results and presented to his mission presidents was that few modern missionaries entered the field the way Joseph Smith’s brother Samuel had. “They haven’t seen the plates like Samuel Smith had, they don’t have that testimony.” Elders of the mid-20th century, he said, needed the direction of their mission presidents to help them find and share that testimony.

I have no way of knowing how professional any of these surveys was – was Elder Widtsoe’s survey of missionaries a simple one-question survey with self-reporting taken at face value, or did the surveyor try to tease out further nuances? And how applicable was the survey mentioned by the Relief Society – did it accurately reflect Sunday School participation by Latter-day Saint youth, or were most respondents members of churches where Sunday School was purely for children?

Wouldn’t it be fascinating to study a survey of today’s Latter-day Saints, with questions written by experienced pollsters, measuring the attitudes and habits and stories of Latter-day Saints?

Many of us have been fascinated by the Mormons results of the Pew studies – but still question whether those results are accurate, because so few Latter-day Saints were surveyed. Sometimes the vocabulary of the questions means something different to Mormons than it does to general Christianity, and sometimes the studies don’t ask the questions peculiar to Mormonism that we would like to have answered.

Some of us have taken part in far less professional surveys recently, many of which are easily identifiable as coming from this or that special interest group, and too often the suggested answers don’t reflect our personal views at all.

Where is the survey – one that is open to study by all, and not proprietary to the Church itself – that asks the questions we care about, that asks enough of us to matter, and that is conducted professionally?

Jana Reiss wants to create, administer, and analyze that survey, the one that will address Mormon concerns, Mormon practices, with Mormon vocabulary – in a professional, meaningful way.

Jana is well-known to the Bloggernacle as author of The Twible ( my review here) and Flunking Sainthood. Many of you probably follow her Religion News Service column via Facebook (I do).

Jana’s projected survey, The Next Mormons, will look at four generations of Mormons, focusing especially on Millennials, asking questions that are geared especially to Mormons. What does the Word of Wisdom mean to modern Mormons? – you won’t find questions measuring that practice in any general religious survey. Is there a generational difference between, say, Millennials and their parents and grandparents when it comes to Mormon attitudes toward caffeinated sodas? Do Mormons believe that only our Church, or all churches, lead to eternal life? – that was a Pew survey question, but Mormons responses may not have been consistent, given our distinction between the continuance of life after death on the one hand, and exaltation on the other.

Jana’s survey also looks at Mormons who stay and Mormons who leave: After the general social information, the survey will branch so that inactive or former Mormons are questioned about why they left and what their religious lives have been since leaving, while active Mormons will be questioned in detail about their beliefs and practices, likes and dislikes. I wouldn’t be surprised to find some question analogous to Elder Widtsoe’s survey of why elders had chosen to serve missions – but up to date, and where I can compare the results of my generation with those of sisters who are now serving.

When we discussed her survey, Jana gave me this example of a question about faith practices:

In your life so far, which of the following things have been most helpful in strengthening your personal faith? Please choose three.

1. Attending and participating in a church community
2. Praying
3. Reading the scriptures
4. Meaningful relationships with family or friends
5. Cultivating a personal relationship with God
6. Coping with the death or illness of a loved one
7. Reflecting on my own beliefs or understandings
8. Having a meaningful marriage or relationship with a significant other
9. Knowing that God was with me during hard times
10. Having meaningful spiritual experiences such as feeling God’s presence or love for others
11. Reading religious or spiritual books or other materials by religious leaders and authors
12. Following the counsel of the LDS prophet and other General Authorities
13. Attending or listening to General Conference
14. OTHER (SPECIFY)

In other, more general religious surveys, such a question has indicated that Millennials tend to choose non-institutional responses (relationships with family or friends) than institutional ones (attending church) – will the same be true of Latter-day Saints? We won’t know until someone asks!

Jana’s survey will result in a book of her own analyses and impressions, with the data then made available for others to study and interpret.

It turns out, though, that obtaining statistically reliable responses (that is, not merely from a subgroup with a vested interest in influencing the result) from a statically significant number of Latter-day Saints, is expensive. For that reason, Jana is conducting a Kickstarter to fund the work. The linked Kickstarter page carries a short video where Jana explains what she is hoping to accomplish, and why. For a donation of only $15, your name will appear in the printed survey as one of those who backed the project; other rewards are offered for greater participation.

That Kickstarter runs through this Friday. I’ll remind you again before it ends, but Jana deliberately kept her Kickstarter period brief so as not to become a nuisance. (Really, isn’t that a sign of a modest person who is working on the project because it needs to be done, and not for her personal glory?) I’ll remind you again before the project closes, but you only have three days to help make this survey possible. You’ll have a lot of company.

Including me.