Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies

The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University is a multi-disciplinary research institute dedicated to the study of American Jewry and religious and cultural identity. The Steinhardt Social Research Institute (SSRI), hosted at CMJS, is committed to the development and application of innovative approaches to socio-demographic research for the study of Jewish, religious and cultural identity.

Local Jewish community studies are designed to help local Jewish agencies learn about the demographics of their communities; community members’ interest in services, affiliations with Jewish organizations, behaviors and attitudes; and a host of other topics that inform communal planning. The results of such studies help local Jewish organizations make informed, data-driven decisions about programming, resource allocation, goals and the impact of their efforts. For examples of past CMJS/SSRI studies, see past studies.

Jewish communities ask CMJS/SSRI to collect, analyze and synthesize data on their community. The research can be expected to assist local Jewish organizations develop an estimate of the size of the Jewish community, describe its shape and character, evaluate programming, assess needs and inform planning and resource allocation.

Just as individuals change over time, so too do communities. The results of a community study are useful for about ten years. If your community’s most recent study was conducted more than ten years ago it is time for another study that will provide the community with contemporary data. If your community has never conducted a study, it is important to begin the process so that your leadership, organizations and community members can be best informed about the shape and nature of the current community. A community study will help take advantage of today’s opportunities and prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.

The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University is a multi-disciplinary research institute dedicated to the study of American Jewry and religious and cultural identity. The Steinhardt Social Research Institute (SSRI), hosted at CMJS, is committed to the development and application of innovative approaches to socio-demographic research for the study of Jewish, religious, and cultural identity.

The starting point for a community study is the combined list of all households who are connected in any way with the organized Jewish community. In many Jewish communities, the majority of Jews are associated with at least one Jewish organization, so the best way that we can get in touch with community members is through these organizations. One way for you to contribute to the success of the survey is to help us to develop the most complete set of households possible by providing your organization’s mailing/membership list.

We will take all names and contact information from the list and combine those with lists provided by other organizations. Duplicates will be eliminated so that no household appears more than once. From this list, a random sample of households will be selected and invited to complete the survey.

People who receive the survey will not know specifically which organization supplied their name. The lists will also be supplemented with publicly available data.

Contact information will be used solely for the purposes of the study. All lists will be uploaded to Brandeis via the secure file transfer site, Box.com. Their website provides details on their encryption and security features. Only members of the research team will have access to individuals’ contact information, which will be housed in password-protected files on secure servers at Brandeis University. The lists will not be released to any agency in your local Jewish community or to any other outside organization. The study’s sponsor will not be privy to any of the contact information or individually-identifiable survey responses.  Survey responses will be reported only in the aggregate and no individually-identifiable data will be released outside of the research team.

If another layer of security is desired, we will sign a non-disclosure agreement with your organization to assure you we will not share it. A sample of that agreement is available here. With or without this agreement, however, we treat all data with the same level of confidentiality.

If an outside vendor is contracted for any part of conducting the study, they will follow the same level of data storage and transmission standards and will also delete identifying data after the conclusion of the study.

We encourage organizations to send us complete mailing lists. If necessary, you can offer your members the choice to opt out. Even if members are included and selected into the survey, they are free to decline to participate in it. Typically, no more than a handful of members choose to opt out. If you choose this option, please let us know how many members have opted out when you provide your list.

If you wish to offer an opt-out, the following is suggested language:

Knowing the importance of this study to our community, our organization has agreed to share our membership list with the Brandeis University research team. We have spoken with them directly and feel confident that they will protect the confidentiality of our data. If, however, you do not wish us to share your contact information with Brandeis, please let <name> know at <email address> by <date> and we will remove your name from the list. 

Please note that we do not offer an opt-in option. That is, you cannot send us a list of names of members who wish to be included in the survey. That would introduce bias into the survey and could lead to invalid results.

You can refer them to this FAQ list and assure them of the confidentiality of the information and the importance of the study to the community. Also remind them that removing a name from your list will not necessarily remove them from the study since we have multiple sources of information. Finally, please assure them that if they are selected to participate in the survey, they are free to refuse. You can also share this information with them.

While the majority of Jews in most communities are members of at least one Jewish organization, there will be some Jews who are not associated with any community organizations. To reach this segment of the population, we access publicly available information and purchase lists of likely Jewish households from commercial data brokers. In some communities, we also contact a random sampling of mailing addresses to identify Jewish households that do not appear on organizational lists.

To send your lists, please name your file with the name of your organization so it can easily identified. Then simply visit the website for your community and click on the button, “Upload Organization Files,” which will take you to our secure file transfer service that only we can access. Please enter your email address, your name, and the name of the organization whose list(s) you are providing and attach your file. Then click the “Send files now” button. You will receive a confirmation email when we have received and downloaded your file.

We would appreciate contact information for anyone associated with your organization: names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. The most convenient format is in an Excel (.xlsx or .csv) file, but we will convert any format that you provide.

If the list is in an Excel format, our preference is for all household information on one row: adults’ first and last name(s), street address(es), email address(es), and phone numbers (similar to this table). If more convenient for you, you may put each adult in their own row. If there is a membership ID number that links the two adults together, please include that ID number.

 

The more information you can provide, the more helpful the list will be. Information that we request includes names of all adult members of the household, mailing address, all phone numbers, and all email addresses, but we still appreciate lists that contain less information.

Helpful but not necessary:

• Work contact information
• Categories such as current members, past members, donors, affiliates
• Whether the household includes children

Not needed:

• Age, gender, date of birth for adults
• Names, ages, or contact information for children

For synagogues and other member organizations:

If your list includes current members and nonmembers (participants, former members, etc.), please include all but distinguish between them. You could include separate lists of members and nonmembers, or use a status column that distinguishes members from nonmembers.

For schools, camps, and other programs for children:

Your list might include parents and others (grandparents, donors, etc). Please include all but distinguish between them. You can provide separate lists or use a status column that identifies parents. If your list includes children’s names, please take care to identify them as children rather than adults. We will not contact any children directly and will only contact their parents

For social service agencies:

We respect the privacy of recipients of services, whether or not they are covered by HIPAA.  If it is not appropriate to identify recipients of services, please send us contact information for donors, volunteers, and any others who are on your mailing lists.

Please leave everyone on the list, as we want to speak with as many members of the Jewish community as possible. We do not want to miss any responses or information that could be helpful. If you know for certain that some households do not include anyone who is Jewish or live elsewhere, those households may be identified and/or removed. However, it is not necessary to do this.

Administrative data about your organization will help us to improve study accuracy. As with contact information, administrative information will not be shared beyond the research team and will be used only in the aggregate.

 For synagogues, JCCs, and other membership organizations:

• Number of dues-paying households
• Number of households who consider themselves members but do not pay dues
• Estimated percentage of members who are Jewish, if known
• Denomination or affiliation, if applicable

 For schools:

• Number of children enrolled at each grade level: preschool, K-8, 9-12
• Number of families with children enrolled
• Estimated percentage of students who are Jewish, if known

To submit this information about your organization, please visit the web page for your community and click on the “Enter Organization Info” button which will open the form to be completed.

The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University is a multi-disciplinary research institute dedicated to the study of American Jewry and religious and cultural identity. The Steinhardt Social Research Institute (SSRI), hosted at CMJS, is committed to the development and application of innovative approaches to socio-demographic research for the study of Jewish, religious and cultural identity.

You were randomly selected from a list developed by CMJS/SSRI of households in your area. These households are ones in which it is possible that one or more Jewish members reside.

CMJS/SSRI has been provided your information either from a local Jewish organization, publicly available data or a list purchased from a commercial data broker. Indeed, your household may have appeared on more than one of these lists.

All information will be stored in password-protected files that are available only to the team of researchers. They will not be released to any agency in your local Jewish community or any other outside organization. At the end of the project, the lists and all identifying data about survey participants will be destroyed.

Your participation in this community study will assist your local Jewish organizations develop an estimate of the size of the Jewish community, describe its shape and character, evaluate programming, assess needs and inform planning and resource allocation.

Topics on the survey include information about your education, age, gender, employment; about your Jewish background and education; about your current involvement with the Jewish community, if any, and the ways that you would like the Jewish community to better meet your needs. You may skip any question that you wish.

Absolutely. If anyone in your household is currently Jewish or was raised Jewish we would like to learn more about you. If not, answering a few brief questions will help us to estimate the number of Jewish and non-Jewish households that appear on our lists.

Absolutely. The Jewish community would like to understand all Jewish people in the community, no matter their level of involvement. Your feedback will help the community to develop programs that better meet your needs.

Surveys conducted by the Cohen Center are entirely voluntary. We hope that you'll agree to participate and answer the survey in full, but you are free to skip any questions. You may also choose not to participate. If you are called about a survey and prefer not to participate, simply tell the caller you would like to be removed from the study. If you receive an email invitation, you may reply via email or phone to opt out of future contact.