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CRCC and the National Disaster Interfaiths Network have developed tip sheets on how to approach minority religious communities. While these are written in the context of disaster relief, they can also be …
How do I apply social science theoretical frameworks to make sense of my data?
Throughout this manual we refer to studying religion from the perspective of a social scientist. What makes the perspective of a social scientist so unique? In fact, why do we make the …
How do I take good photography, video or audio in the field?
Taking photography and recording audio and video can be helpful in many different ways. Looking back at your images can help you recall details that you might not have recorded in your …
What are the ethical considerations of fieldwork?
Before you start any sort of qualitative research, you must first consult your college or university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Each institution will have their own process and own expectations of the …
What data do you collect in participant observation?
Whenever you make an observation, conduct an interview or talk informally with someone about your project, you should consider this as a piece of data. It can both lead you back to …
What is “participant observation”?
In the context of studying religious groups, fieldwork consists of deep immersion and “hanging out” in other people’s social and cultural worlds in order to capture what they experience as meaningful and …
What are some techniques and strategies for interviewing?
First Things First Assure people of confidentiality and anonymity. Ask permission for recording interviews and/or taking down notes. You can discuss with the interviewee the benefits of recording versus taking down notes …
What are typical interview questions?
Biographical questions: Typically, a good way to start an interview is by beginning with a biographical or a life-history question. For example, you can ask them about their own spiritual or religious …
How do I prepare for an interview?
Getting Started At first, there may be some apprehension on the part of both the interviewer and interviewee. On the one hand, as an interviewer, you may be concerned that the person …
Whom should I interview?
Unless you have been assigned to study a particular group, your choices of which groups to study are nearly endless. If the purpose of your research study is to collect qualitative socio-cultural …
Why should I use interviews in my research?
Interviews are excellent tools to understand the meaning and significance of the ways in which individuals participate in various religious communities. Interviews are the face-to-face meetings you will arrange with participants of …
How do you choose and gain access to a field site?
Your instructor may provide you with some guidance concerning the group or groups to be studied, or you may pursue this investigation based on your own research interests. Either way, you can …
Is it possible to study religion objectively?
Objectivity is the idea that unbiased scientific or social scientific knowledge can be reliably obtained through systematic observations of an external reality. Yet, when we study religious life using qualitative methods of …
What are the advantages and disadvantages of studying my own religion?
It is certainly possible to study one’s own congregation, religious community or familiar spiritual practice, but there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to keep in mind when setting about such …
What are the guidelines for objective, reliable and valid research?
Honesty Be forthright about you see. Strive to avoid being swayed by biases, prejudice or personal wishes. Honesty also means recognizing how your own personal history and identity markers such as race, …
What methodologies can I use to study religious groups?
Social scientists answer this question in a number of ways. The two most common methodologies are quantitative and qualitative studies. Neither the qualitative approach nor the quantitative approach is inherently superior, but …
Christian Standard: CRCC Shares its Research in Seoul
The Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s research team traveled to Seoul, South Korea in September and shared their findings about religious competition and creative innovation in Los Angeles with researchers in …
How Will Church Plants Grow Without Becoming Megachurches?
Six years ago, Peter Guinta and his wife decided to leave their megachurch in Orange County because they wanted a place where they could “be known and know others.” Guinta felt like …
Made in Los Angeles – How One Church Changed With Its Community
At her old church, church leaders looked “at me like a sinner for plucking my eyebrows!” remembered Sonia. The church’s gender-specific regulations, imported from the congregation’s mother church in El Salvador, also …
L.A.’s Congregations Raise New Questions About Multiracial Churches
The Southern Baptist Convention is turning its attention to race this month, with its policy arm changing the topic of its annual spring summit from bioethics to multiracial churches. The move revealed …