Research motives
We found that everyone has little experience with fortune telling, so that we designed this questionnaire to learn about people’s opinions on fortune telling and fate.

Fate and Fortune Telling

Dear respondent,
We are a group of researchers who like to observe social phenomenon. Through this questionnaire, we would like to learn about your opinions on fate, as well as fortune telling. Please answer the following questions on fate and fortune telling. Your value opinions will help us to complete this survey. Cyberfair Team, Taipei Municipal Yong-An Elementary School

I. Basic information:
1. Gender: 　□ Male □ Female
2. Age: 　□12~20 years old　□21~30 years old　□31~40 years old　□41~50 years old　□51~60 years old　□ Above 61 years old
3. Education: 　□ Illiterate 　□Elementary school　□Junior high school　□Senior high school　□Vocational college　□University　□ Master　□ PhD
4. Place you grew up in: 　□Taipei City　□Northern Taiwan  □ Central Taiwan  □Southern Taiwan　□ Eastern Taiwan　□ Offshore islands　□ Abroad
5. Religious belief: 　□Yes　□No　□ No particular religion

II. Questions:
1. Do you believe that fate can be changed? 　□ Yes　□ No　□ Never thought about it
2. Do you believe that fate is predestined? 　 □ Yes　□ No　□ Never thought about it
3. Have you drawn lots in a temple before? 　□ Often　□ Occasionally 　□ Never (skip to 3)
4. Do you believe in the result of the lots? 　□ Yes　□ For reference only　□ No
5. What is your intention when drawing the lots: 　□ Look for a guidance from the gods　□ Look for a direction in decision-making 　　□ Look for answers　□ Look for peace in mind 　□ Curiosity  □ Others:
6. Have you had a fortune teller reading your or your family members’ life? 　 □ Often　□ Occasionally 　□ Never (skip to 9)
7. Do you believe in the result of fortune telling? 　 □ Yes　□ For reference only　□ No
8. What is your intention when seeing a fortune teller: 　 □ Look for suggestions from the fortune teller　□ Look for a direction in decision-making 　　□ Look for answers　□ Look for peace in mind 　□ Curiosity  □ Others:
9. Have you had a fortune teller reading your or your family members’ name? 　□ Yes　□ No (skip to 12)
10. Do you believe in the result of name reading? 　□ Yes　□ No　□ For reference only
11. What is your intention when seeing a fortune teller for name reading: 　□ To bring good luck　□ To change the fate　□ Others:
12. Have you used Chinese Calendar to check your fate or name for yourself or your family members? 　 □ Yes　□ No
13. Have you used Chinese Calendar to check your fortune for yourself or your family members? 　 □ Yes　□ No
14. Have you used the Internet to check your fate or name for yourself or your family members?　 □ Yes　□ No
15. Have you used the Internet to check your fortune for yourself or your family members?　 □ Yes　□ No
16. Do you believe in the result of fortune telling obtained from books or online? 　 □ Yes　□ No　□ For reference only
17. What is your intention when checking your fate or name by books or internet: 　 □ To bring good luck　□ To change the fate　□ Look for a direction in decision-making　□ Look for answers　□ Look for peace in mind 　□ Curiosity　□Others:

Thank you for your time

 

 
We would like to know the opinions of various groups of people on fortune telling. Thus, we came up with several ways to collect opinions from people of different ages, education backgrounds, and religions. Thus, we began our interviews.

1.Relatives and friends: We interviewed our grandparents, relatives, or neighbors first to gain more courage. They are also different ages and have different education backgrounds.
2.School teachers: We believe that most teachers are with higher education background. It could be a good idea asking for their opinions, so we interviewed administrative teachers, classroom teachers, and subject teachers, as well as chefs and ladies of the kitchen.

3.Mingshui Park: We wanted to hear the opinions from seniors, so we went to the park to interview people who exercised or passed by there. We even interviewed a janitor working there!

4.Restaurants of Shih Chien University: We asked young people and restaurant staff for their opinions about fortune telling.

5.Xihu Market:We asked the store ,to buy food people, and Technical Area Engineer.

6.Miramar Entertainment Park: There were counter clerks, shoppers, diners, and other types of people.

We analyzed the collected information.
We received 220 questionnaires from 69 males (31%) and 151 females (69%). Since more females returned questionnaires, we performed analysis for each gender separately to avoid bias.
There are 21% of interviewees aged 31-40 and 22% aged 41-50, so nearly half of them are aged 31-50. Possibly most people visiting Xihu Market and Miramar Entertainment Park during weekday afternoons are middle-aged, so this percentage is higher.
Among the 220 questionnaires, 40.45% of the people have college degrees, followed by the people having master’s degrees and high school diplomas. Only very few people have Ph.D. degrees or are illiterates (the sum of both is less than 2%). So, most people did not have problems with answering the questionnaire. For those who couldn’t read or speak Chinese, we read questions to them.
Since the survey was done in Taipei City, no doubt, most people grew up in Taipei City (45%). The sum of respondents who grew up in northern, central, or southern Taiwan is nearly half of the total. Therefore, the ratio of people born in Taipei City to people who moved to Taipei City from other counties, cities or foreign countries is about one to one.

Among the 220 questionnaire respondents, 53% of them are religious, followed by no particular religious and nonreligious, respectively. In the subsequent questionnaire, we would like to see whether religious beliefs can affect people’s opinions on fortune telling.