TY - JOUR

T1 - Counting niqabs and burqas in Denmark

T2 - Methodological Aspects of Quantifying Rare and Elusive Religious Sub-cultures

AU - Warburg, Margit

AU - Johansen, Birgitte Schepelern

AU - Østergaard, Kate

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - Muslim women wearing face-covering clothing are the subject of politicallyheated debates in a number of European countries, but reliable data on the number of these women (niqabis) are generally lacking. At the request of the Danish government, the authors conducted a survey of niqabis in Denmark; this work is the first attempt to quantify niqabis in a European country by sampling new data from several different kinds of sources. Sociologically, niqabis represent a rare and elusive group, which presents particular methodological challenges. The methods discussed and used, such as stratified sampling, use of key informants, and location sampling, are relevant in the studies of many contemporary religious sub-cultures. Extensive triangulation of thedifferent data provided an estimated number of niqabis of 150, with an uncertainty range of 100–200. This corresponds to 0.1–0.2% of Muslim women in Denmark. These figures tally with current rough estimates in other European countries.

AB - Muslim women wearing face-covering clothing are the subject of politicallyheated debates in a number of European countries, but reliable data on the number of these women (niqabis) are generally lacking. At the request of the Danish government, the authors conducted a survey of niqabis in Denmark; this work is the first attempt to quantify niqabis in a European country by sampling new data from several different kinds of sources. Sociologically, niqabis represent a rare and elusive group, which presents particular methodological challenges. The methods discussed and used, such as stratified sampling, use of key informants, and location sampling, are relevant in the studies of many contemporary religious sub-cultures. Extensive triangulation of thedifferent data provided an estimated number of niqabis of 150, with an uncertainty range of 100–200. This corresponds to 0.1–0.2% of Muslim women in Denmark. These figures tally with current rough estimates in other European countries.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Religiøse minoriteter

KW - Muslimer

KW - Kvinder

M3 - Journal article

VL - 28

SP - 33

EP - 48

JO - Journal of Contemporary Religion

JF - Journal of Contemporary Religion

SN - 1353-7903

IS - 1

ER -