Scientology Exit Survey - Final Results Published!

After 26 months of online polling and promotion, the final batch of Exit Survey published reports has been released on scribd for this project that includes data as of January 31, 2011.

The following results are based on 451 total respondents, with a +/- 9 margin of error. For more information on the available documentation that was compiled in this informal study, curious onlookers can reference the Church of Scientology Exit Survey Reporting Index or visit the related dox collection on scribd.

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Final Results - Basic Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Final Results - Advanced Crosstab Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Final Results - Analytical Crosstab Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Final Results - Summary Charts 

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Final Results - Download Bundle

Jan 2012 Exit Survey Results - Infographics Album (Slideshow)

The 27 new responses we got in the last 4 months stacked up mostly in the time-served demographic categories for 10+ years in the official Church of Scientology. We were also fortunate to get a significant number of OT level folks participating in the final months, along with a handful of Independent Scientologists that helped to expand the range of experiences to some extent. A sample of some of the more interesting highlights from the published reports is featured below.
 

Click on the thumbnail images
to view full-size charts

View More Charts & Graphs

This online exit survey was one of several data collection projects being featured and promoted to new audiences here on the Exit Zone blog. Although this effort has ended due to the SurveyPirate service being decommissioned, all of our other projects are still ongoing.

Special thanks to all the former members of the official Church of Scientology that participated, the feedback received from current members pondering their involvement with the organization who found the published reports useful has been inspirational. 

There has also been a request from the ESMB camp to do another survey project with a different goal in the future. We hope to showcase this future survey project on this blog later this year, to continue our dedication to broadening public awareness and documenting the truth regarding the bizarre world of scientology being a dangerous cult.

Click the title of this post or on any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Scientology Exit Survey Results Published for Q3 2011

The latest batch of Exit Survey published reports has been released on the wiki index for this project as the third quarterly update for 2011.

The following results are based on 414 total respondents as of October 9, 2011. Historical results are also archived on the WWP wiki under Scientology Exit Survey Results.

For more information on the available documentation being compiled in this informal study, curious onlookers can reference the Church of Scientology Exit Survey Reporting Index or visit the related dox collection on scribd.

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Basic Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Advanced Crosstab Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Analytical Crosstab Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Summary Charts 

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Download Bundle

Q3 2011 Exit Survey Results - Infographics Album (Slideshow)

We're up by another 14 responses from 2nd quarter of 2011 with an added twist this time around:  Cult expert Steven Hassan from the Freedom of Mind Center has graciously agreed to review and critique the findings of this modest attempt by Project Chanology researchfags at amateur scholarship, once we reach 500 respondents.

The 14 new responses we got in the past quarter stacked up roughly as 1/3 in the 5-15 years spent "in" bracket, 1/3 in the 20+ years spent brackets, and the remaining 1/3 spread across all the other time spent demographics for 3+ years in.
 

Click the thumbnails below
to view full-size charts

For an interesting comparison of how these results have evolved over the past year, check out the October 2010 versions of the same charts shown above on the Scientology Exit Survey Results: Past Reporting Highlights wiki page archive.

View More Charts & Graphs

The Online CofS Exit Survey is one of several ongoing data collection projects being featured and promoted to new audiences here on the Exit Zone blog. Our current initiatives include continuing to publish quarterly reporting updates for the remainder of the current year (and possibly longer if active participation remains steady).

If you are a former member of the official Church and haven't participated yet, please take the time to lend your experiences to the data being collected by following the link below.


Click Here To Take The Online Exit Survey

We hope that former members of the Church of Scientology who like what they see here, take the time to participate in all of the Exit Zone data collection projects dedicated to broadening public awareness and documenting the truth regarding the bizarre world of scientology being a dangerous cult.


Click the title of this post or on any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Scientology Exit Survey Results Published for Q2 2011

The latest batch of published reports has been released on the wiki index for this project and elsewhere as the second quarterly update for 2011.

The following results are based on 400 total respondents as of July 2011. Historical results are also archived on the WWP wiki under Scientology Exit Survey Results.

For more information on the available documentation compiled by this informal study, check out the Church of Scientology Exit Survey Reporting Index and the related scribd collection.

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Basic Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Advanced Crosstab Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Analytical Crosstab Reports

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Summary Charts 

Church of Scientology Exit Survey Results - Download Bundle

Q2 2011 Exit Survey Results - Infographics Album (Slideshow)

Interesting factoids about this batch of quarterly updates - Were up by another 20 responses from 1st qtr of 2011, and methinks I really need to start trolling ESMB much harder for poll takers again, or find some new venue of promoting it beyond the anon-friendly camps.

The 20 new ones we got were approx. 50% in the 5-15 years spent "in" bracket, and the other 50% fairly evenly spread across all the other time spent demographics for 1+ years in.
 

Click the thumbnails below
to view full-size charts

Analytical factoid: note the difference between the two charts above is ever so slight. Such that it sorta appears at-a-glance there is maybe a woolly mammoth sized pothole in the bridge round about 15-20+ years in.

Scary factoid: an emerging trend is brewing on this last chart above; the "got help after 10 years" quarterly increase tends to be a hair higher than equal to all the increases everywhere else. Eg: 16/20 of the new respondents for last quarter got some form of assistance with 9/16 in the "after 10 years" category. FWIW, this 55-60% vs. 45-40% ratio has persisted for the past 3 quarters.

View More Charts & Graphs

The Online CofS Exit Survey is one of several ongoing data collection projects being featured and promoted to new audiences here on the Exit Zone blog. Our current initiatives include continuing to publish quarterly reporting updates for the remainder of the current year (and possibly longer if active participating remains steady).

We also plan to seek expert review and opinion on our little amateur scholarship project from recognized cult experts and other academics once the accumulated results reach approximately 500 respondents. If your a former member of the official Church, please take the time to lend your experiences to the data being collected by following the link below.


Click Here To Take The Online Exit Survey

We hope that former members of the Church of Scientology who like what they see here, take the time to participate in all of the Exit Zone data collection projects dedicated to broadening public awareness and documenting the truth regarding the bizarre world of scientology being a dangerous cult.


Click the title of this post or on any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Scientology Exit Survey Results Published for Q1 2011

The latest batch of published reports has been released on the wiki index for this project and elsewhere as the first quarterly update for 2011.

The following results are based on 380 total respondents as of April 2011. Historical results are also archived on the WWP wiki under Scientology Exit Survey Results.

For more information on the available documentation compiled by this informal study, check out the Church of Scientology Exit Survey Reporting Index and the related scribd collection.

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Basic Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Advanced Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Analytical Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Summary Charts 

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Download Bundle

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Image Album (Slideshow)

Interesting factoids about this batch of quarterly updates - we're only up by 20 responses from 4th quarter of 2010, which is understandable since we backed off of promoting this in order to give James R. Lewis his rightful shot to get some input on his survey tool.

Despite that drop in new responses, the 20 that we did get were chock full of old timers rich in experience and nearly 1/2 fell into the 10-15 years in the church bracket while 1/3 were in the > 25 yrs bracket. This gave us some much needed balance in the time-spent demographics so it's all good.
 

Click the thumbnails below
to view full-size charts
 

75% of respondents who answered this question feel certain
that the Church of Scientology did them undue harm.

View More Charts & Graphs

The Online CofS Exit Survey is one of several ongoing data collection projects being featured and promoted to new audiences here on the Exit Zone blog. Our current initiatives include continuing to publish quarterly reporting updates for the remainder of the current year (and possibly longer if active participating remains steady).

We also plan to seek expert review and opinion on our little amateur scholarship project from recognized cult experts and other academics once the accumulated results reach approximately 500 respondents.

Click Here To Take The Online Exit Survey

We hope that former members of the Church of Scientology who like what they see here, take the time to participate in all of the Exit Zone data collection projects dedicated to broadening public awareness and documenting the truth regarding organized scientology being a destructive group.

Additionally, another fascinating info gathering effort to check out is Jeff Hawkin's recent Poll on Leaving Scientology that attempts to the quantify some of the gains commonly achieved with various Church of Scientology training and processing levels.

Click the title of this post or on any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Confronting Thought Reform & Coercive Persuasion

The last entry on this blog offered a humble introduction as well a list of common terminology for one of the hardest topics that former members of destructive groups have to face when they reflect back on the trauma inflicted on them by an abusive church:

  Thought-Stopping cultic influences in the form of: mind control, thought reform and coercive persuasion. Big scary words that basically mean the same thing but are often blown so far out of proportion that they become another form of dangerous disinformation.

Soothing the Soul with Laughter

The subject of thought reform and similar cultic influences is often affectionately referred to by fully recovered ex-cultists that are typically several years down the road to healing through educational therapy as: "WTF Did They Do To ME!?!?!!!"

When you can honestly face the answers to that question - and laugh more than you facepalm - you can rest assured that worst of the harm done to your psyche is well on its way be to be sufficiently healed.

Unfortunately, it takes time to get that point of being thankful enough to have survived that you can wholeheartedly laugh at the whole affair no matter how tragic it may have been. The recommended approach by many modern cult recovery experts for reaching that point in your life is by learning everything you can in relation to subversive influences a destructive cult exerts over its unfortunate members.

"We can only feel sorry for ourselves when our misfortunes are still supportable. Once this limit is crossed, the only way to bear the unbearable is to laugh at it."

- Marjane Satrapi 

As dually warned in the last post, this subject matter is not for the faint of heart. We strongly recommend that those who have only recently left the Church of Scientology take the time to sort out their doubts, and then become informed on the basic issues and controversies first, while saving this material for later.

Then ideally, once you can pass the basic litmus test of using laughter as a sign of readiness — tackle the subject matter outlined in these recent posts on thought reform and coercive persuasion once you find yourself a little further down the road of cult recovery through education.

Healing the Mind with Knowledge

Once your ready to proceed digesting this unsavory plate of need2know material that comes bundled under a variety of words for basically meaning the same thing in conversational usage (brainwashing, coercive persuasion, mind control, thought reform, and cultic influences).

The first step of this learning curve journey is to get comfortable with the basic clinical explanation of mind control in the academic context from the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA):

What is Mind Control?

Mind control (also known as "brainwashing," "coercive persuasion," and "thought reform") refers to a process in which a group or individual systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s).

Such methods include the following:

• extensive control of information in order to limit alternatives from which members may make "choices"
• deception
• group pressure
• intense indoctrination into a belief system that denigrates independent critical thinking and considers the world outside the group to be threatening, evil, or gravely in error an insistence that members’ distress-much of which may consist of anxiety and guilt subtly induced by the group-can be relieved only by conforming to the group
• physical and/or psychological debilitation through inadequate diet or fatigue the induction of dissociative (trance-like) states via the misuse of meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, and other exercises in which attention is narrowed, suggestibility heightened, and independent critical thinking weakened
• alternation of harshness/threats and leniency/love in order to effect compliance with the leadership’s wishes isolation from social supports pressured public confessions 

by Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

Further Reading

The published report below is a compilation of recommended books for those seeking to understand more about these types of coercive mind control tactics that destructive cults typically employ as a means of mind control over their members. Many of these written works will be reviewed for providing a summary of key highlights and valuable excerpts on the Exit Zone blog in the months ahead.

For a checklist of established strategies for counteracting these forms of thought-stopping cultic influences, see Prevent and Remedy Coercive Persuasion, Brainwashing and Mind Control.

Understanding Cult Mind Control: Recommended Reading
 

For additional reference with the above reading list, please see:
Glossary of Wog Words #2

For more insights from a former scientologist turned expert:
The Use of Mind Control in Scientology (Pignotti) 

Other similar materials for further study are also indexed
under Resources and Reading Lists.

Click the title of this post or ob any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Scientology Exit Survey Results Published for Q4-2010

The first year of CofS Exit Survey Project has finally come to a close, and with much thanks to all who participated - we're proud to announce that we officially passed our 2010 endoyear goal for 350 total responses gathered!!!

The latest batch of published reports has been released on ESMB and elsewhere as the final quarterly update for 2010. The following results are based on 359 total respondents as of January 1, 2011.

For more information on the available documentation compiled by this informal study, check out the Church of Scientology Exit Survey Reporting Index and the related scribd collection.

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Basic Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Advanced Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Analytical Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Summary Charts  **

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Download Bundle ***

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Image Album (Slideshow)

NOTE:  the project wiki page that normally serves as the central square for this effort isn't currently available due to technical difficulties, but it's in the process of being resurrected and shall return to its proper place on the interwebz in near future.

** - Now includes 1/3 more data points in the original charts, plus 3 brand new summary chart comparisons (shown below) as /r/ by armchair analystfags on WWP who were charting participation stats and wished to see additional layers of detail on progress up the processing side of the Church of Scientology Bridge related to Auditing & OT levels.

 *** - Now with more files for summary chart sauce (source files). Fellow number crunchers & researchfags are welcome to play with the new spreashsheet included in the download bundle to spin custom charts just for grins and/or offer suggestions on summary chart improvements/additions for including in future versions of these published reports.

Click the thumbnails below
to view full-size charts
 

"Straight-up and Vertical" anoyone?

Why so many retreads on Clear? No doubt it's the GAT.

Lots of retreads on OT Eligibility and unfinished OTVII. Hmmm.

View More Charts & Graphs
The Online CofS Exit Survey is one of several ongoing data collection projects being featured and promoted to new audiences here on the Exit Zone blog.

We also hope that former members of the Church of Scientology who like what they see here, take the time to participate in these various efforts dedicated to broadening public awareness and documenting the truth regarding organized scientology being a destructive group.

Click Here To Take The Online Exit Survey
Click the title of this post or ob any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Deciphering Scientology: A Primer

As previously stated in the mission statement for this blog, one of the demographics we hope to reach is non-scientologists who have family or friends in the Church of Scientology, and are seeking to understand what they are dealing with in terms of helping get their loved ones out of this destructive cult.

To further this goal, we've assembled a subset collection from the bigger document archive of Exit Zone Resources, which is featured on the backlink for the title of this post and embedded below. All of these essays are a quick read, and provide introductory info for the uninformed to become more knowledgeable. These articles are also readily available for download by anyone with a free account on Scribd.

The cornerstone pieces in this collection are the first and last essays by outspoken former members of the Church of Scientology: What Scientologists believe by Paul Schofield, and Scientology: Loosing the Religion by Phineas Fogg.



Additionally, the "Deciphering Scientology" segments in between the cornerstone works cover all of the major areas of concern that outsiders tend to loose sleep over when they first learn of their loved ones involvement in the Church of Scientology. These additional works in the middle of this series were salvaged from various archives of past usenet and forum postings, and include well-known writings from other former cult members such as Stacy Brooks, Charlotte L. Kates, Mark Plummer and Chuck Beatty.

Special thanks to Paul ("Scooter") Schofield for contributing his paper to the Exit Zone to help aid our outreach efforts, and for providing the inspiration for developing a primer on deciphering Scientology!
(/hat tip)

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Scientology Exit Survey Update Published for Q3-2010

So you may have thought this informal study had died on the vine, but it only got re-prioritized due to a decline in new responses as other cult busting efforts took precedence. Now that those efforts have waned, it was time to resurrect this one. From here on out, updates will be released every 90 days or so.

The project wiki page that serves as the central square for this project has been updated with the next full batch of reports based on results from 298 respondents.

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Basic Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Advanced Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Analytical Reports

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Summary Charts (source data)

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Download Bundle

Scientology Exit Survey Results - Image Album (View Slideshow)


Click the title of this post or any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Survey Summary Charts Released

This week's batch of analytical summary charts, once again brought to us compliments of thetanic on ESMB, have now been added to project wiki page and related image album.


Added Bonus: New Analytical Reports document was incorporated in published survey results dox to support the four new styles of high level summary graphs.

Click the title of this post or any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.

Initial Survey Reporting Archive Released

Preliminary Results with 50 respondents was published for providing a preview of upcoming survey reporting functions.

Click the title of this post or any other entries on this micro blog to visit the related link for a given announcement.