Anchored: How Muslim Faith Buffers Discrimination in Aotearoa

University of Auckland Faculty of Engineering (Building 405)

7 Grafton Road, 1010, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Muslim Diversity Study

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The general scope of the Muslim Diversity Study (MDS) is to study attitudes and values of Muslims in Aotearoa New Zealand.Salaam alaikum, kia ora, and greetings!The Muslim Diversity Study (MDS), also known as “A National Longitudinal Study of Muslim Diversity and Flourishing”, is aimed to enrich understanding of the attitudes, values, wellbeing, flourishing, and resilience of the Muslim community in New Zealand. It is conducted as part of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS).Our VisionThe NZAVS is committed to the following three principles for the MDS.Protection: the NZAVS is strongly committed to respecting and protecting data gathered from all participants and takes confidentiality seriously. Our commitment to participant privacy and safety is central to the NZAVS Muslim Diversity Study.Participation: the NZAVS is committed to enhancing the research capacity of our communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Any NZAVS research focusing specifically on the Muslim community will be reviewed by our Muslim academic advisor Dr Usman Afzali, and/or appropriate nominated reviewers from the Muslim community in New Zealand. We are committed to Muslim community-led research for Muslim-focussed studies to ensure respectful reporting that considers the social, religious, and cultural settings of New Zealand’s Muslims.Partnership: the NZAVS actively fosters opportunities for collaborative research with emerging Muslim researchers in New Zealand. We seek to mentor Muslim graduate students interested in accessing NZAVS data for research in their own postgraduate theses or dissertations. We invite students from the Muslim community in New Zealand to contact our Muslim academic advisor, or any member of the NZAVS board or leadership team for guidance in developing a project.About the ProjectThe New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)NZAVS is a large longitudinal national probability annual panel study* of social attitudes, personality, ideology and health outcomes. The NZAVS began in 2009 and is curated by Professor Chris Sibley. It includes questionnaire responses from more than 70,000 New Zealand residents. The study includes researchers from many New Zealand universities, including the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Canterbury, the University of Otago, and Waikato University. Because the survey asks the same people to respond each year, it can track subtle change in attitudes and values over time, and is an important resource for researchers both in New Zealand and around the world. The NZAVS is university-based, not-for-profit and independent of political or corporate funding.* In the panel study, data are collected from the sample participants overtime.Why the Muslim Diversity Study?As a committed member of the New Zealand Muslim community, the lead researcher of the Muslim Diversity Study, Dr Usman Afzali recognised the importance of including Muslim voices in discussions about New Zealand. This inspired him to develop a booster study to enhance Muslim representation in the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, since Muslims are underrepresented at present. By capitalizing on NZAVS infrastructure, this project aims clarify the extent of Muslim diversity, mechanisms of resilience, and lines of similarity with other faiths.Much of the NZAVS work to date with the Muslim community has focused on conveying information about how Muslims are perceived. However, after talking with 29 Muslims from diverse backgrounds across New Zealand, the Muslim Diversity Study team identified strong signals of Muslim interest in conducting research on Muslims self-perception, diversity, as well as flourishing. Therefore, the current project will amplify the community partnerships and foster Muslims’ interest by involving them in longitudinal science.